EVIDENCES OF EVOLUTION 31 



toes, which are mere duplications without 

 ancestral interest, and comparable to the 

 occasional occurrence of a sixth finger in man. 



In his very interesting study of "Wild 

 Traits in Tame Animals" (1897) Dr. Louis 

 Robinson refers to survivals of behaviour 

 which date from the old wild life in the open 

 plains. It was imperative long ago that the 

 young foals should run with their mothers, 

 and to this day they do not gorge themselves 

 with milk as calves do. When alarmed, 

 horses hold their heads high, as when wild 

 upon the plains; they bite very closely when 

 grazing; in both respects they differ markedly 

 from cattle. "Shying" is a relic of the in- 

 stinct of swerving suddenly from a suspicious 

 rustling and the like which used to mean the 

 presence of a lurking foe. Such survivals 

 are interesting and strike our fancy; but the 

 past lives in the present even more clearly 

 in regard to structure than in regard to habit, 

 and by the "button" at the lower end of the 

 splint bones the modern horse is indubitably 

 linked back to its polydactyl ancestors. 



Connecting Links. — There is no more 

 complete or striking contrast of aspect and 

 habitat, habit and temperament in the 

 animal kingdom than that between the 

 average bird and the average reptile; and yet 

 every zoologist is sure that birds sprang 



