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PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



The fore limbs must indeed have been of very little use, and it is very diffi- 

 cult to imagine an animal running and seizing the prey it overtakes with the 

 hind limb. If it were not a carrion feeder it must have leaped. We are in- 

 formed by Hochstetter,* that the Apteryx leaps with the utmost ease over ob- 

 jects two and three feet in height, that is, higher than its own head. Huxley 

 suggests that the Compsognathus "hopped" along on its hind limbs. The 

 bulk of La^laps is no objection to its leaping, for the giant extinct Kangaroos, 

 Macropus atlas and titan, found in the postpliocenes of Australia, did not 

 fall far short of these reptiles in this respect. We may add that Laslaps had 

 smaller allies, as L. macropus one-half, and Ccelosaurus a n t i q u u s one- 

 fourth or fifth the size, whose remains, so far as they go, indicate an identity 

 of habit. Deslongchamps says of Poecilopleurum bucklandii, that it " could 

 project itself with prodigious force, as a spring which unbends itself; but this 

 could not have been on a solid surface, since the fore limbs are too weak to 

 resist the shock of the fall of such a heavy body." He supposed it to be marine 

 in its habits, accustomed to battling a stormy sea. However, his objection to 

 leaping on land is obviated by understanding that progressive movement was 

 entirely performed by the hind limbs. 



On the Origin of GENEBA. 

 BY EDWARD D. COPE, A.M. 



Introduction. — The present fragmentary essay is a portion of what other oc- 

 cupation has prevented the author from completing. It does not therefore 

 amount to a complete demonstration of the points in question, but it is hoped 

 that it may aid some in a classification of facts with a reference to their signi- 

 fication. When all the vast array of facts in possession of the many more 

 learned than the writer, are so arranged, a demonstration of the origin of 

 species may be looked for somewhere in the direction here attempted to be 

 followed. 



Conclusions of any kind will scarcely be reached, either by anatomists who 

 neglect specific and generic characters, or secondly by systematists who in 

 like manner neglect internal structure. Such will never perceive the system 

 of nature. f 



Analysis of the subject. 



I. Relations of allied genera. 



First ; in adult age. 



Second ; in relation to their development. 



A. On exact parallelism. 



3. On inexact or remote parallelism. 



y. On parallelism in higher groups. 



dT. On the extent of parallelisms. 



II. Of retardation and acceleration in generic characters. * ' 



First ; metamorphoses in adult age. 



a. The developmental relations of generic and specific characters. 



/?. Probable cases of transition. 



y. Ascertained cases of transition. 

 Second ; earlier metamorphoses. 



(T. The origin of inexact parallelisms. 



* New Zealand Amer. Transl., 181. 



fit might seem incredible that either class should systematize with confidence, yet a 

 justly esteemed author writes even at the present day, "However, there is scarcely asys- 

 tematist of the present day who does not pay more or less attention to anatomical charac- 

 ters, in establishing the higher groups !" (The italics are our own,) As though a system 

 was of any value which is not based on the whole st> ucture, and as though lower groups 

 were only visible in external characters : in a word, as though external (muco-dermal, 

 dental, etc.) characters were not "anatomical !" 



[Oct. 



