970 On Catagenesis. [October l 
16. G. inka Spréng.—Both the inner and outer peridia at frst — 
fleshy then rigid and multifid. 
Schweinitz found this species not rare in Pennsylvania; he de- 
clares it does not belong to the Geasters and gives it as Actino- 
dermium sternbeckit Spf. He says it frequently grows cæspi- — 
tosely, 3-4 individuals connected by roots; the expanded seg- 
ments sometimes attain a breadth ‘of more than half a foot. It 
must be a remarkable fungus. 
“he 
ON CATAGENESIS.! 
BY E. D. COPE. 
I. THE EVOLUTION OF ORGANISMS. 
1: general proposition that life has preceded organization in 
the order of time, may be regarded as established. It fol- 
lows necessarily from the fact which has been derived from palæ- 
ontological investigation, that the simple forms have, with few 
sporadic exceptions, preceded the complex in the order of ap- 
pearance on the earth. The history of the lowest and simplest 
animals will never be known on account of their perishability; 
but it is a safe inference from what is known, that the earliest 
forms of life were the rhizopods, whose organization is not even 
cellular, and includes no organs whatever. Yet these creatures 
are alive, and authors familiar with them agree that they display, 
among their vital qualities, evidences of some degree of sensk 
ility. 
The following propositions were laid down by Lamarck, 3 
established by facts known to him, in 1809 ? : 
1. “In every animal which has not passed the term of its 
development, the frequent and sustained employment of an rk 
gradually strengthening it, develops and enlarges it, and gives * 
power proportional to the duration of its use; whilst the cO 
disuse of a like organ insensibly weakens it, deteriorates it, pr 
gressively reduces its functions, and finally causes it to disap? i 
u. “All that nature acquires or loses in individuals, through 
the influence of circumstances to which the race has been exposed 
goat 
1 An address delivered before the Biological Section of the American b tS 
for the Advancement of Science, at Philadelphia, September 4th, 1884 ?Y 
Cope, vice-president, 
* Philosophie Zodlogique, Pt. 1, p. 235 (Edit, 1830). 
