PALEONTOLOGY 127 



I have thus quoted at length in order that we may 

 have a clear understanding of the claims of evolution 

 as to the origin of the first vertebrates. 



It will be noticed that Amphioxus is destitute of 

 nearly every organ that belongs to the vertebrates. 

 The only claim that it has to a position among verte- 

 brates is that it has a spinal cord and a noto-chord. 



Romanes says that it corresponds very closely to 

 Haeckel's ideal primitive vertebrate and that it is 

 "an immensely archaic" form of vertebrate. 



According to this I infer that Amphioxus is either 

 an actual link in the chain of evolution of the higher 

 vertebrates and of man, or that it is a form which 

 does not differ materially from an ancestor of man. 

 Highly organized fishes are found in the Lower 

 Silurian. If Amphioxus or something closely like it 

 was their ancestor, then Amphioxus must have origin- 

 ated as early as the Primordial, if not earlier. Thus 

 we find that this "immensely archaic form of verte- 

 brate," has existed without making any progress, 

 through all geological time, comprehending, as some 

 claim, from 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 years. It has 

 survived through all the varying circumstances to 

 which any organism living in the water could be sub- 

 jected in this infinite time, and still it has not 

 made any perceptible progress. Its long survival 

 without change is evidence of the inherent inability of 

 Amphioxus to undergo change, and of the inability of 

 environment to produce change, and also the lack 

 of necessity for becoming more highly organized or 

 for making any change in order to accommodate itself 

 to varying conditions of environment. 



It would seem that this immutable form is an ex- 

 ceedingly poor stock from which to try to evolve man. 



In like manner the worm, Balanoglossus, possessing 

 the gill-slits, if it was the progenitor, or if it is closely 



