19 

 beyond 300 million years ago to close on 50 million years ago, 

 spanning the incredible time of 250 million years, and surviving 

 terrific climatic changes and upheavals that wiped out countless 

 other forms and types. What is equally as astonishing is that over 

 those relatively vast ages of their existence they changed very 

 little, less indeed than any other known vertebrate. 



Fig. 2. — Reconstruction of an early Coelacanth from its fossil remains: below, 

 much as seen from a fossil; above, as believed to have been in life. (After Smith 



Woodward.) 



It is almost amusing that some scientists speak of Coelacanths 

 as a 'degenerate side-line' because they have not given rise to 

 other forms. This is a most peculiar view, since man then emphatic- 

 ally falls into the same category, for man will certainly not give 

 rise to any other form save those he moulds himself. The power 

 to master changing conditions can never be degeneracy. Some 

 Coelacanths probably left the water, but their innate strength 

 kept the line going when the supposedly more virile Rhipidistians 



