THE CREATION OF SPECIES 



orders is to be sought in a particular tribe of crea- 

 tures called Arachnids, of which the spiders, 

 scorpions, and mites are the most familiar examples. 

 Making a very popular paraphrase, we may perhaps 

 say that Professor Patten's theory suggests though 

 he of course, would not phrase it precisely this way 

 that man, in common with his vertebrate relatives, 

 is a modified spider or scorpion. 



It must be explained at once that Professor Patten 

 does not suggest that any vertebrate has been de- 

 veloped through modification or adaptation of the 

 structure of any existing form of spider or scorpion. 

 What is suggested is that at a very ancient period a 

 form of life existed which was destined to supply the 

 common ancestry of spiders and their allies and of 

 all the vertebrates. These creatures, according to 

 Professor Patten's theory, were marine arachnids, 

 of a type known as sea scorpions. They were con- 

 fessedly the most highly organized animals of their 

 time; and Professor Patten believes that in due 

 course their descendants were modified to form a 

 very interesting type of creature called an ostra- 

 coderm, which in turn gave rise to the fishes or first 

 true vertebrates. Professor Patten thinks that this 

 theory, if demonstrated, will lead to the most radical 

 change in the classification of the animal kingdom 

 that has taken place since the time of the great com- 

 parative anatomists Cuvier and Lamarck. He thinks 

 that the whole story of the evolution of the verte- 

 brate stock, which has hitherto been veiled in 

 mystery, should become an open book, since the 

 material for its reading is abundant and accessible. 



171 



