120 STUDIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF ANIMALS 



(«) Shows the ornamentation on the head-shields oi Encephalaspis 

 Pagei, an extinct Sturgeon-like fish ; {b) shows a plate from Heini- 

 cyclaspis Murchisoni, an extinct animal like an Armadillo ; while 

 (c) are from the test of an Echinus. 



Then, curiously enough, the Pearly Nautilus in the Natural 

 History Museum, on its soft hood exhibits a similar pattern, al- 

 though it does not seem to have there any calcareous deposit. The 

 soft hood appears to act as an operculum when the cephalopod 

 withdraws into its chamber, and therefore may at one time have 

 been armoured. 



It would seem preposterous to endeavour to carry on the 

 relationship of the Jaguar and Cheetah markings to those on the 

 armour of the Cephalaspidse,^ or the Echini. Yet if we are evolu- 

 tionists, and if creation by the method of evolution be true, the 

 Echinus and other low forms cannot be left out in the cold because 

 such hints as I have made would outrage our feelings ! We must 

 look upon the markings of certain fishes and of the Echini as 

 connected somehow with those of the higher land animals. 



Evolutionists go even further than this, and admit that all 

 animal forms on the earth were evolved from the minute pelagic 

 forms, many of which are still in existence. The doctrine of 

 evolution would teach us that all these phenomena are rather a 

 matter of course than mere unexplainable anomalies. 



It does not, I think, require much acumen to see a family 

 resemblance between the figures of the Glyptodon's bone-rosettes 

 and the spot-rosettes on the flanks of the Jaguar. Indeed, a glance 

 at the back and flanks of Fig. 4 will readily suggest the impression 

 of a carapace composed of plates not dissimilar to those of the 

 Glyptodon. I do not say that the Jaguar descended from a Glypto- 

 don, but I do say that this mammal descended from some extinct 



' The Cephalaspida: were Sturgeon-like ancient extinct fishes. 



