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Show 36 Additional Notes. Lm· neu 1u t t 11 ence we Jl ca• lled h rmar)hrodite . flow. cl's; and. th<tt this he rmap hr o< l1.t c moe J of' rc1)Tocluction st ill ext ts ILl many msects, as ·m sn at·1 s an< 1 ' vo1•1n ,· <a 11 cJ , finally ' because all the male quadruped , <.\ we 11 as men, posses S •·t t tl1'1s d'a y some remains o.f the f.e m. ale appar.a tus, a the breasts with nipples, which till at thctr nat1v1 t~ ~rc . a~tl to he replete with a kind of milk, and the nipp~ s swel~ on tt.tJI.latt,OI~ .. Afterward th sex s seem to have been formed m v ~ taLlcs as m fl ower , 1· n ac1 c J 1't '1011 to the powe·r of solitary re.p roduct10n by .b uds. So in animals the aphis is propagated both by solttary reproduction as ·1 11 spn·n g, 01· bJv se•x t·t.".l oo ·eneration as in au. tumn; then the vege. table sexe began to exist in separate plants, as 1n the clas.scs monocc1a and dioccia, or both of them in the same plant also, as m the clas polygamia; but the larger and more ~erfect animals arc now prop,agat ~l by sexual r production only, wh1ch seems to have b n t~1c chefd'oeuvre, or capital work of nature; as appear by the '~ondcrf ul transformation of leaf~eating caterpillars into honey-catmo- moths and butterflies, apparently for the sole purpose of the formation of se, ual organs, as in the silk-worm, which takes no food after it trau form ation, but propagates its species and dies. III. Recapitulation. The microscopic productions of spontaneous vitality, and tT1e next 111ost inferior kinds of vegetabl s and animals, propagate by solitary generation only; as the buds and bulb raised immediately from ccds, the lycopcrdon tuber, with probably many other fung·i, and the polypu , volvox, and ta!nia. Those of the next order propagate both by solitary and sexual reproduction, as those buds and bulbs which produce flowers as well as other buds or bulbs; and the aphis, and probably many other insects. Whence it appears, that many of tho 'C vegetables n<.l animals, which are produced by solitary generation, gradually become more perfect, and at length produce a sexual progeny. A third order of organic nature consists of hermaphrodite vegetables and animals, as in those flowers which have anthers and stigma in the same corol; and in many insects, as leeches, snails, and worms; Rep1·oduction. 37 and perhaps all those reptile which have no bones, according to the observation of M. Poupart, who thinks, that the number of hermaphrodite animals exceeds that of those which arc divided into sexes; Mem. de l'Acad. des Sciences. These hermaphrodite insects I suspect to be incapable of impregnating themselves for reasons m ntioned in ZootJomia, Sect. XXXIX. G. 2. And, lastly, the most perfect orders of animals are propagated by sexual intercourse only; which, however, does not extend to vegetables, as all those raised from seed produce some generation of buds or bulbs, previou to thci r producing flowers, as occurs not only in trees, but also in the annual plants. Thus three or four joint of wheat grow upon each other, before that which produces a flower; which joints are all separate plants growing over each other, like the buds of trees, previous to the uppermost; though this bappens in a few months in annual plants, which requires as many years in the successive buds of trees; as is further explained in Phytologia, Sect. IX. 3. 1. IV. Conclusion. Where climate is favourable, and salubrious food plentiful, there is reason to b lieve, · that the races of animals peqJetually improve by reproduction. The smallest microscopic animals beco1~1c In.r-?e~· ones in a short t ime, probably by succes ive reproductions, as 1s so d1stmc~Jy een in the buds of seedlitJo· apple-trees, and in the bulbs of tu!Jp rai ed from seed; both which die annually, and leave behind them one or many, which arc more perfect than them elve , till they pr~d nee a ·exuat progeny, or flower . 'To which may ~e ad~led, the ra~1d improvement of our domesticated dogs, horses, rab~tts, ~1geons, . whrch. I· mprove m· ·t zc, or m· sw1' ftn ess, or 1.11 the saOo 'actty ot the. sense of smell, or in colour, or other properties, by sexual reproductiOn .. The oTeat Linneus havino· perceived the changes produced m the \'co·ctabl~ world by sexual reproduction, has supposed that not more th:n about sixty piants were at first createdJ and that. all the other · have ueen formed by their solitary or sexual reprodu~trons ;' and adds, Suadent hrec Creatoris leges a simplieibus ad compostta; C:rcn. Plant. |