26 DEGENERATION : I 



deniably degenerate animals, and first, I may call to 

 mind the very remarkable series of lizard-like animals 

 which exist in the south of Europe and in other 

 countries, which exhibit in closely related genera 

 a gradual loss of the limbs — a local or limited Degene- 

 ration. We have the common Lizard {Lacerta), with 

 ^ve toes on each of its well -grown fore and hind 

 limbs ; then we have side by side with this a lizard- 

 like creature, Seps, in which both pairs of limbs have 

 become ridiculously small, and are evidently ceasing 

 to be useful in the way in which those of Lacerta 

 are useful ; and lastly, we have Bipes, in which the 

 anterior pair of limbs has altogether vanished, and 

 only a pair of stumps, representing the hinder limbs, 

 remain. 



No naturalist doubts that Seps and Bipes repre- 

 sent two stages of Degeneration, or atrophy of the 

 limbs ; that they have, in fact, been derived from the 

 five-toed four-legged form, and have lost the locomotor 

 organs once possessed by their ancestors. This very 

 partial or local atrophy is not, however, that to which 

 I refer when using the word Degeneration. Let us 

 imagine this atrophy to extend to a variety of 

 important organs, so that not only the legs, but the 

 organs of sense, the nervous system, and even the 

 mouth and dio'estive oro^ans are obliterated — then we 

 shall have pictured a thorough -going instance of 

 Degeneration. 



Degeneration may be defined as a gradual change 

 of the structure in which the organism becomes 

 adapted to less varied and less complex conditions 



