CREATION BY EVOLUTION 



elusion to which we were led by the study of the adult form 

 — that the twisted body is a modification of a straight one. 

 These crabs with the aborted abdomen must have been 

 developed from animals — such as the shrimps and lobsters — 

 in which the abdomen is long and normal; and so we find 

 that in their young stages they are very much like little 

 lobsters. If these crabs were specially created why should 

 they begin life like lobsters? 



. In fact, we may lay down the general law that any mem- 

 ber of an order or tribe that differs in structure from the' 

 other members ivill show in its "young stages a close agree- 

 ment in structure tvith the type prevailing in that order or 

 tribe, 



A splendid example of this law is provided by the Indian 

 cat-fish Clarias. The cat-fishes are widely distributed over 

 North America, Europe, and Asia, and their general 

 appearance is familiar to most persons. With one or two 

 exceptions all are river fish and are quite devoid of scales, 

 having naked dark-brown or black skins, fiat heads, and 

 broad mouths. From both lips and from the corners of the 

 mouth protrude long, slender rods called barbels, with which 

 these fish probe the mud for the worms and other small 

 animals on which they live. It is the fanciful comparison 

 of these barbels to the whiskers of a cat that suggested the 

 name cat-fish. Now one of the genera of Indian cat-fish 

 called Clarias has learned to emerge from the water and 

 breathe air, and in order to do this it has developed above 

 its gills two curious tree-like organs, which are richly sup- 

 plied with blood vessels. As Figure 1 shows, however, this 

 fish is essentially like other cat-fish when it is young, but as 

 it grows older two little buds appear above the gills on 

 each side, which develop into the tree-like organs of the 

 adult. Can anyone seriously doubt that Clarias has been 



[52] 



