http://www.science.tv/watch/9311ef5b5c3003946c48/Paramecium-caudatum-in-conjugation I post the poem again to make the connection more clear! :) The Conjugation of the Paramecium by Muriel Rukeyser This has nothing to do with propagating The species is continued as so many are (among the smaller creatures) by fission (and this species is very small next in order to the amoeba, the beginning one) The paramecium achieves, then, immortality by dividing But when the paramecium desires renewal strength another joy this is what the paramecium does: The paramecium lies down beside another paramecium Slowly inexplicably the exchange takes place in which some bits of the nucleus of each are exchanged for some bits of the nucleus of the other This is called the conjugation of the paramecium. "The Conjugation of the Paramecium" by Muriel Rukeyser, from The Speed of Darkness . © W. W. Norton, 1968.