360 ORGANIC EVOLUTION CONSIDERED 



est known fossil representatives of the different sub- 

 kingdoms are widely apart in structure, and paleon- 

 tology has furnished no evidence, whatever, in the 

 form of fossils, to show that they had a common 

 origin. Nor is there any hope that she will be able 

 to do so. , 



He next proceeds to manufacture a phylogeny for 

 the vertebrates. He remarks that, " Embryologists 

 are especially apt to construct impossible phytogenies, 

 as they are generally not systematists, and frequently 

 not anatomists."* The first half of this is, no doubt, 

 true. 



He continues: " The Amphioxus (genus Branchi- 

 ostoma) is generally regarded as the ancestral verte- 

 brate. There are many reasons why this position 

 must be accepted, although it possesses a few second- 

 ary modifications. Whether Branchiostoma derived 

 its descent from an annelid worm, or from a tuni- 

 cate, is a vexed question." f 



I suggest that the degraded tunicate, grown fast to 

 a rock by what was once his head, be relieved of the 

 responsibility of having been the ancestor of man. 

 He evidently saw that the worm was ahead of him in 

 the race, and he attempted suicide by jamming his 

 head against a rock and holding it there till it grew 

 fast and, finally, disappeared, while he lived on. 



But the origin of the Amphioxus,. our oldest verte- 

 bral ancestor, is uncertain — the honor of having been 

 his father being divided between the writhing, wrig- 

 gling, squirming worm on the one hand, and the 

 leathery, stupid, motionless tunicate on the other, 

 with odds in favor of the former. I am sure that 

 Amphioxus, if called on to-day, would hardly be able 

 to recognize his own father, so much has he grown 

 away from him in appearance. 



* Page So. t Page 86. 



