LIMBS 



75 



x 



other case both feet had six good toes. If this state 

 of affairs had continued on down, or up, to man, we 

 should not be counting now by tens or decimals, but 

 by twelves or duodecimals — a really nmch more con- 

 venient system if we were only used to it ; for while 

 ten has only two factors, twelve has four. 



Whether these old swimming reptiles had gained 

 these toes extra or inherited them from the lishes, 

 and whether the others have lost all but live, can 

 not be determined. If they w^ere once land-haunters 

 and went back to the water, Xature may have spread 

 the foot for them, as she has the paddle of the whale, 

 by putting in extra 

 bones. If they came 

 of ancestors w^hich 

 were always aquatic 

 — having acquired 

 their i>:ood luno^s and 

 good three - jointed 

 limbs while yet in or 

 near the water, as the 

 amphibians did, then 

 the live -toed land- 

 haunting animals 

 have lost a sixth toe. 

 It is said that there 

 is a hint of this in 

 some froo^s. Ao^ainst 

 this last view lies the fact that a fin or flipper does 

 not need to be three-jointed to be used as such, while 

 a good walking limb certainly does — which facts 



Fig. 38. — Foot of a chameleon, showing 

 liow the toes are bunched together, 

 and opposed to each other, in grasp- 

 ing an object. 



