AiV ARGUMENT UPSET. 187 



portions of the skull, and other remains were brought to light, 

 and being submitted to a careful scrutiny by Professor Owen, ho 

 demonstrated that they belonged to one and the same creature? 

 an enormous extinct Frog. 



& The strictly Batrachian character of the Labyrinthodon is evi- 

 denced by many structural peculiarities of great importance ; and 

 the fact that an enormous Frog was thus, as it was then supposed, 

 the first of land animals that had appeared on the surface of our 

 planet, gave a weight of evidence to the once-famous " hypothesis 

 of development" of which its advocates were not slow to avail 

 themselves. 



But unfortunately for this ill-starred speculation, the argument 

 it drew from the structure and time of appearance of the Laby- 

 rinthodon has since experienced a double break-down. In the 

 first place, other and higher forms of reptilian life have subse- 

 quently been discovered in formations older by far than the new 

 red sandstone rocks ; and secondly, the Labyrinthodon itself has 

 now been shown to have been, not a Frog pur et simple, as was 

 first supposed, but a Frog of mixed character, so to speak a 

 creature combining with its Frog-like characters, others which 

 give it a close and intimate relationship with the highest order of 

 reptiles. 



It is obvious, therefore, that the man-monkey theory is not 

 only not supported, but sadly discountenanced by this most 

 ancient of the Ancient Order of Batrachians. 



