THE DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES. 21I 



For example, the long pectoral fins of the flying fish 

 enable it to make long leaps through the air, after the 



manner of the grasshopper. Yet we 



The flying fish. ^ ^u *. ..u a • c u 



can not say that the nymg fish was 



meant to be the bird among fishes, for its nearest rela- 

 tives are without wings, and the wing development is 

 one of the latest acquisitions of the individual. Its 

 flight is simply an exaggeration of the leaping or skim- 

 ming which related forms with shorter fins accomplish. 

 The growth of the fins goes on with the increase of this 

 power, and greater power comes with the growth of the 

 fins. Morphologically, a flying fish is even less like a 

 bird than the humbler fishes from which it is de- 

 scended. 



No phase in the history of systematic science is 

 more instructive than the varying attitudes of the 

 naturalist toward those local modifications of species 

 called subspecies or geographical variations. 



It was early noticed that, while individuals of any 



one species in any limited region are substantially alike, 



this apparent identity disappears with the 



Subspecies or examination of wider extent of territory. 



geograp ica These differences were often too small 



variations. 



to justify the formation or recognition 



of a new species, but too evident to be wholly neglected. 

 Such subordinate species were termed by Linnaeus varie- 

 ties, and their geographical basis was often recognised. 

 Thus under Homo sapiens, or aboriginal man, Linnaeus 

 recognised four varieties — americanus, europxus, asiaticus, 

 and afer, besides the half -mythical monstrosus, based on 

 traveller's tales of Patagonians, Hottentots, and dwarfs. 

 As with the varieties of man, so with those of other 

 animals and plants. The individuals of England were 

 not quite those of the same species in Italy, and those 

 in more distant lands showed still greater peculiarities. 



