BY SYDNEY B. J. SKERTCHLY. 81 
It may be, too, that Huxley saw dimly the connection 
between the types when he pointed to certain abdominal 
ligaments in the dogs as possible homologues of the marsupial 
bones. But if the Metatheira have thus been rescued from 
a false position; the still more lowly Prototheria have been 
as wonderfully rehabilitated. These purely Australia- 
Orientalian monotremes are no survivals of the almost 
batrachian type, but highly modified descendants of true 
toothed forms. And they as yet have not reached Aus- 
tralia-Vera. 
95. The palaeontological record, from the Cambrian 
upwards teems with denials of the shibboleth that Natura 
non fecit per saltum. Giant strides are a favourite pastime 
of hers: her cycles are not geared to one speed. She can 
linger over a form for ages, or expend her energy in out- 
bursts of creative vigour. We thought, as we never saw 
her in her sportive mood, that she was coy or resting awhile. 
But De Vries has shown us it was not the restful sleep of 
Nature that lay upon the world, but that the darkness 
and the silence were in ourselves—our eyes were filmed : 
our ears had waxed dull. Species, true physiological 
species, and not mere morphological varieties are coming 
into daily existence. Darwin’s artificial pigeons needed 
the strictest isolation, or intercrossing would blot them out : 
De Vries Aenotheras are free to all the winds that blow, 
and all the bees that gather pollen, and remain true to type, 
for they are barren to their unregenerate relations. We 
must begin de novo, almost, and read the story of Evolution 
by the daylight of facts, and put by as childish the poor 
torchlight of unsupported imagination. 
XI. CERTAIN SIDE-ISSUES. 
96. There are certain side-issues, of great importance, 
that space prevents me from dwelling upon. I hope to 
deal with them in a special work. Thus I have been, per- 
force, obliged to confine my remarks to the Australian 
Continent in its present delimitations. But Australian 
throes are not ring-fenced like her policy : they are world- 
-wide in their significance. Australia did not spring adult 
and armed from any chaos. She is part and parcel of the 
planet, and has waxed ar<! waned as its lands and seas 
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