Note 24 — Chapter XIII

It is a suggestive fact that these deciduous forms give way through histolysis to true larval forms, just as in some flies (Musca vomitoria) the true larval form goes under, and the adult form is built up from the imaginal disks of the larva. In an analogous manner the deciduous, pluteus-condition of the young Echinoderm perishes and is absorbed by the growing body of the permanent adult stage. This deciduous stage of the ichneumon may accordingly be termed the prelarval stage. Now as we find insects with and without this prelarval stage, and in the radiates quite different degrees of metamorphoses, the inquiry arises how far these differences are correlated with, and consequently dependent upon, the physical surroundings of these animals in the free swimming condition. Merely to point out the differences in the mode of development of animals is an interesting matter, and one could do worse things, but the philosophical naturalist cannot rest here. He must seek how these differences were brought about.