The American Naturalist Volume 37, PT. 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt: ...with the author's contributions to the subject. The introductory chapter contains a historical review, a discussion of the modern classification of the group, of the distinctions between plants and animals, and of spontaneous generation. We note the omission of the Bathybius incident in the historical discussion, though the Eozoon ghost is laid. The general morphology and physiology of the Protozoa are treated in the second chapter, which contains an admirable discussion of the structures and functions of the protozoan body. The subject of colonial organization is but partly developed and that of economic aspects lacks perspective. The agency of the Protozoa in causing odors in potable water are for example fully treated but no reference is made in this connection to the pebrine of the silk worm or to Texas fever. The four chapters which follow deal with the structure, development, and relationships of the Sarcodina, Mastigophora, Sporozoa, and Infusoria. The revival of interest in the Sporozoa in recent years makes the review of the literature of these parasites very opportune. In the chapter upon the sexual phenomena in Protozoa the author concludes that there is no instance of nuclear reduction in the Flagellidia and that the maturation of forms in other divisions of the Protozoa shows no genetic relation to analogous processes in Metazoa, but are "independent" expressions of the same unknown vital forces which cause the formation of polar bodies, or the double division of tetrads. The so-called maturation is, moreover, a phenomenon of degeneration. No conclusive evidence, it seems, can as yet be found in the Protozoa which enables us to trace the phylogeny of nuclear structures of the Metazoa, though Calkin's division-center...