272 METAMORPHOSES OF MAN 



Moreton Bay (Australia) three specimens of an uni- 

 sexual euphorbium, which were placed in the Kew 

 Botanic gardens.* These three were females. Never- 

 theless they produced seeds, which gave proofs of 

 fertility. From Kew the new plant spread to the 

 other European gardens, and, in all, produced only 

 female forms, which invariably gave rise to fertile 

 seeds.f 



"We see then that life in operating on brute matter 

 to the production of either plants or animals, employs 

 processes which are invariably the same ; from which 

 we are justified in concluding that in both plants and 

 animals, agamic reproduction in all its varieties is 

 simply a phenomenon of growth, whose result is the 

 progressive and more or less evident individualization 

 of a portion of the parent. This conclusion is further 

 borne out by direct observation. It is true that the 

 individuality of the bulb or deciduous bud detached 

 from its parent stem, cannot be denied, but that of 

 the fixed bud was observed at a later period ; and that 

 of any bud, whatever be its origin, can no more be 

 recognized in a plant than in the hydra. 



As in both plants and animals growth has its limits, 

 so should agamic reproduction have its boundaries 

 also ; and here, as well as in the animal kingdom, it is 

 impossible to propagate a species indefinitely. Conse- 



# Lubbock, " Account of the two Methods of Eeproduction in 

 Daphnia." 



t The Coelebogyne ilicifolia, which is here referred to, has been 

 investigated by our most skilful botanists, who have with the great- 

 est care sought in vain for a trace of male generative organs. 

 Hence we must regard it as an example of parthenogenetic repro- 

 duction, whose cycle embraces more than thirty generations. 



