I lO EVOLUTIONISTS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



mountain-tops had been thrown aside by pilgrims 

 on their journeys to Rome, and that petrified 

 fishes were the remains of their unfinished repasts. 



It was probably his readings among the Greeks, 

 as well as his own paleontological and geological 

 studies, which gave De Maillet his central hypoth- 

 esis that all terrestrial animals had their origin in 

 marine forms by direct descent ; that birds were 

 derived from flying fishes, lions from sea-lions, and 

 man from nwmme marin, the husband of the mer- 

 maid ! De Maillet soberly collected all the narra- 

 tives of the mermaid, which were abundant in the 

 literature of that period, then reasoning that the 

 mermaid must have espoused, derived man from 

 the metamorphosis of her husband. 



These extravagant ideas are mingled with the 

 rudiments of a principle. For De JNIaillet, in every 

 case, endeavours to explain this metamorphosis, or 

 transformation, by the influences of environment 

 and habit. The aquatic organism finds its way 

 upon land ; there its new surroundings of air and 

 herbage, and its efforts to accommodate itself, are 

 followed by a series of modifications. In modern 

 terms, ' it acquires new characters.' The rash 

 feature of De Maillet's views is, that he believes 

 these modifications take place within the short 

 period of a single life ; they are then transmitted 

 to the descendants, which do not revert to the 

 aquatic form. Thus, in his account of the origin 

 of birds, he describes flying fishes as, " driven out 



