EVIDENCES OF EVOLUTION 57 



embryo is never like a little fish or a little 

 reptile; the resemblance is between embryonic 

 stages. The recapitulation is general, not 

 exact; there is often abbreviation and a 

 masking of the old by the new. On the one 

 hand, old-fashioned features may drop out, 

 having no significance either in embryonic, 

 larval or adult life; on the other hand, many 

 new features have been added on as adapta- 

 tions to novel conditions. The recapitulation 

 is seen more in the stages in the development 

 of organs than in the development of the 

 organism as a whole, and the reason for this is 

 obviously to be found in the individuality 

 or specificity of every creature. Increased 

 precision of embryological work discloses 

 individual characteristics even in early stages 

 of development; indeed, a skilled embryolo- 

 gist (exaggerating a little in his turn) has said 

 that even a blind man could distinguish 

 embryos of the duck from those of the fowl as 

 early as the second or third day of incubation. 

 The developing frog is in many ways like a 

 developing fish, for instance, as regards its 

 heart and circulation, but it is none the less, 

 from almost the very outset, an amphibian 

 and nothing else. 



It must also be frankly stated that we are 

 apt to get into a vicious circle in arguing about 



