The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 01 (of 10)Hickson, Sydney J. (Sydney John)
Science
The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 01 (of 10)
Hickson, Sydney J. (Sydney John)
Animals
We now see why inactive "miserly" cells so
often pass into a resting state before dividing, and why they go on
dividing again and again when once they re-enter upon an active life, the
living protoplasm growing at the expense of the reserves.[47] Resting
cells of this type occur of course only at relatively rare intervals in
the animal-feeding Protozoa, that have to take into their substance the
food they require for their growth and life-work, and cannot therefore
store up much reserves. For they are constantly producing in the narrow
compass of their body those very ferments that would dissolve the
reserves when formed. Internal parasites and "saprophytes," that is,
beings which live on dead and decayed organic matter, on the other hand,
live surrounded by a supply of dissolved food; and rarely do we find
larger cells, richer in reserves, than in the parasitic Sporozoa, which
owe their name to the importance of brood-formation in their
life-history. In Radiolaria (p. 75 f.) a central capsule separates off an
inner layer of protoplasm; the outer layer is the one in which digestion
is performed, while the inner layer stores up reserves; and here
brood-formation appears to be the rule. But the largest cells of all are
the eggs of the Metazoa, which in reality lead a parasitic life, being
nurtured by the animal as a whole, and contributing nothing to the
welfare of it as an individual. Their activity is reduced to a minimum,
and the consequent need for a high ratio of surface to volume is also
reduced, which accounts for their inordinate size. But directly the
reserve materials are rendered available by the formation of a digestive
ferment, then protoplasmic growth takes place, and the need for an
extended surface is felt; cell-division follows cell-division with
scarcely an interval in the process of segmentation.
SYNGAMY.[48]—The essence of typical syngamy is, that two cells
("pairing-cells," "gametes") of the same species approach one another, and
fuse, cytoplasm with cytoplasm, and nucleus with nucleus, to form a new
cell ("coupled-cell," "zygote "). This process is called also "conjugation"
or "cytogamy." In the simplest cases the two cells are equal and attract
one another equally ("isogamy"), and have frequently the character of
zoospores.
In an intermediate type, the one cell is larger and more sluggish (female),
"megagamete," "oogamete," "oosphere," "egg"; the other smaller, more active
(male), "microgamete," "spermogamete," "spermatozoon," "sperm"; and in the
most specialised {34}cases which prevail among the Higher Animals and
Plants, the larger cell is motionless, and the smaller is active, ciliate,
flagellate, or amoeboid: the coupled-cell or zygote is here termed the
"oosperm."[49] It encysts immediately in most Protista except Infusoria,
Acystosporidae, Haemosporidae, and Trypanosomatidae.
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