" CONTRE-EVOLUTION " 177 



and that, for this reason probably, the former were the inferior 

 aviators. But such physiological differences, I affirm, are 

 importantly connected with differences of food and Symbiosis, and 

 the distinctions require to be clearly established. We may feel 

 sure that Symbiosis, and Symbiosis alone, conduces to that state 

 and condition of the blood which are most favourable to progress. 

 More will be said on this subject in a subsequent chapter. 

 We are further told : 



D'autre part, les Oiseaux presentent, a tous les points de vue de 1' Aviation, 

 un contraste saisissant avec les Pttrosauriens. Us ont sans doute tous 

 deux la meme origine reptilienne ; mais tandis que 1'un marque le pas 

 et reste jusqu' a la fin un reptile plus ou moins maladroit au vol, 1'autre 

 s'61eve rapidement au rang superieur d'oiseau et atteint jusqu' a ce degre 

 d'aviation parfaite c'est le cas de le dire ! qui nous frappe d'admiration 

 chez le Martinet et le Condor. Le Pterosaurien traine, depuis sa naissance, 

 le boulet de la Degenerescence qui le retient au sol et finit par le tuer ; 

 tandis que 1'oiseau, ne et resU sans la moindre tare d6g6ndrative, a et6 trouv6 

 pour la premiere fois dans les schistes Kimmeridjiens d'Eichstaedt, 1'oiseau, 

 dis-je, ne tarde pas a s'adapter merveilleusement intus et extra, a la vie 

 de 1'aviateur et, enfin, dure plus que jamais ! 



But where is there a mention of the most important adaptation 

 the ancestors of the birds have ever made, namely, the adaptation 

 to Symbiosis with the plants, which has first rendered evolutionary 

 success possible ? It is over-looked, just as was the case of cross- 

 feeding on the part of the horse and its ancestors. 



We know that the birds, like the insects, have been of great 

 bio-economic usefulness through the dispersal of plants, and this 

 inasmuch as they were mainly cross-feeders. We may conclude 

 that the leading physiological adaptation of the birds, in virtue 

 of which they excelled over the reptiles, was a widely useful 

 adaptation ; and that it was, hence, from a symbiotic source 

 that they originally obtained the wherewithal for favourable 

 adaptations in many important directions. Subsequently, in so far 

 as many birds ceased to be symbiotic cross-feeders, and, like 

 large numbers of the Pterodactyles, became increasingly in-feeders 

 beasts of prey they tended to lose the power of making 

 favourable adaptations. Although with the birds of prey the 

 adaptation for flying is stimulated to the highest pitch, such 

 stimulation is not free from morbidity. The stimulating diet 

 of an in -feeding species may allow of a temporary acceleration 

 of many life processes and even of " specialisations " in particular 

 directions the principle of compensation lending itself to numerous 



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