OBJECTIONS TO THE DARWINIAN THEORY 161 



The explanation of the extreme degeneration of 

 parasites is that special food is required to meet the 

 drain at the time of ripening of the eggs. For in- 

 stance, in Copepoda, the female is alone parasitic, and 

 that only at the time of laying eggs. The new 

 phase intercalated in the life-history involves the 

 necessity of laying more eggs, and there is greater 

 difficulty in completing the ancestral history in 

 individual development. This reacts on the para- 

 sitic stage, rendering it more important ; more 

 food is required, and hence further modification 

 ensues. 



(c) Special organs show signs of degeneration 

 even in the highest animals, and give evidence of 

 a former more perfect condition in their ancestral 

 forms. This is seen in the eyes of the mole, and 

 in many cave animals ; in the splint bones of the 

 horse, and in all the examples of rudiments or 

 vestiges mentioned in a former lecture.* 



In a sense, all the higher animals are degenerate; 

 that is, they can be shown to possess certain organs 

 in a less developed condition than their ancestors, 

 or even in a rudimentary state. Thus, a crab, as 

 compared with a lobster, is degenerate in regard to its 

 tail ; a horse, as compared with Hipparion, in regard 

 to its outer toes. It is a mistake, however, to speak 

 of a crab as a degenerate animal in comparison with 

 a lobster, for an animal should only be spoken of as 

 degenerate when the retrograde development has 

 affected, not one or two organs only, but the totality 

 of its organisation. 



* See page 95. 



