180 Darwin, and after Darwin. 



But the whole structure resembles the fin of a fish 

 about as nearly as it does the leg of a mammal. For 

 not only are there six rows 

 , of bones, instead of five, 



suggestive of the numerous 

 rays which characterise the 

 fin of a fish ; but the struc- 

 ture as a whole, having 

 been covered over with 

 blubber and skin, was 

 throughout flexible and 

 unjointed thus in func- 

 tion, even more than in 

 structure, resembling a fin. 

 In this respect, also, it 

 must have resembled the 

 paddle of a whale (see 

 Fig. 79) ; but of course the 

 great difference will be 

 noted, that the paddle 

 of a whale reveals the 



dwindled though still clearly typical bones of a true 

 mammalian limb ; so that although in outward form 

 and function these two paddles are alike, their inward 

 structure clearly shows that while the one testifies to 

 the absence of evolution, the other testifies to the 

 presence of degeneration. If the paddle of Baptanodon 

 had occurred in a whale, or the paddle of a whale had 

 occurred in Baptanodon, either fact would in itself have 

 been well-nigh destructive of the whole theory of 

 evolution. 



Such, then, is the most generalized as it is the most 

 ancient type of vertebrate limb above the class of 



FIG. 79. Paddle of a Whale. 



