114 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. L 



of these changes was a new type of organism which, com- 

 pared with the original biococci, was of considerable size, 

 and consisted of a droplet of alveolar, amoeboid periplasm 

 in which were imbedded a number of biococci. Whether 

 this periplasm made its first appearance around single 

 individual biococci, or whether it was from the first asso- 

 ciated with the formation of zooglcea-like colonies of bio- 

 cocci, must be left an open question. 



Thus arose in the beginning the brand of Cain, the 

 prototype of the animal, that is to say, a class of organism, 

 which was no longer able to build up its substance from 

 inorganic materials in the former peaceful manner, but 

 which nourished itself by capturing, devouring, and di- 

 gesting other living organisms. The streaming move- 

 ments of the periplasm enabled it to flow round and en- 

 gulf other creatures; the vacuole-formation in the peri- 

 plasm enabled it to digest and absorb the substance of its 

 prey by the help of ferments secreted by the biococci. 

 By means of these ferments the ingested organisms were 

 killed and utilized as food, their substance being first 

 broken down into simpler chemical constituents and then 

 built up again into the protein-substances composing the 

 body of the captor. 



A stage of evolution is now reached which I propose to 

 call the pseudo-moneral or cytodal stage, since the place 

 of these organisms in the general evolution of life corre- 

 sponds very nearly to Haeckel's conception of the Monera 

 as a stage in the evolution of organisms, though not at all 

 to his notions with regard to their composition and struc- 

 ture. The bodies of these organisms did not consist of 

 a homogeneous albuminous "plasson," but of a periplasm 

 corresponding to the cytoplasm of the cell, containing a 

 number of biococci or chromatin-grains. Thus their 

 composition corresponded more clearly to that of plasson 

 as conceived by Van Beneden, when he wrote : 4 Si un noyau 

 vient a disparaitre dans une cellule, si la cellule redevient 

 un cytode, les elements chimiques du noyau et du nucleole 

 s'etant repandus dans le protoplasme, le plasson se trouve 



