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But that the insects may have descended from some low worms is not improbable when we reflect that the Syllis and allied genera of Annelides bear appendages consisting of numerous joints; indeed, the strange Dujardinia rotifers, figured by Quatrefages, in its general form is remarkably like the larva of Chloëon.
If he says that it is too strange a transformation for a land-baby to turn into a water-baby, ask him if he ever heard of the transformation of Syllis, or the Distomas, or the common jelly- fish, of which M. Quatrefages says excellently well "Who would not exclaim that a miracle had come to pass, if he saw a reptile come out of the egg dropped by the hen in his poultry-yard, and the reptile give birth at once to an indefinite number of fishes and birds?
But even if this were as asserted, nevertheless it fails to explain the peculiar condition presented by Syllis and some other annelids, where a new head is formed at intervals in certain segments of the body. Here there is evidently an innate tendency to the development at intervals of a complex whole.
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