Het`er*o*gen"e*sis (?), n. [Hetero- + genesis.]
1. Biol.
Spontaneous generation, so called.
2. Biol.
That method of reproduction in which the successive generations differ from each other, the parent organism producing offspring different in habit and structure from itself, the original form, however, reappearing after one or more generations; -- opposed to homogenesis, or gamogenesis.
© Webster 1913.