The Theory of Evolution 97 
length and form of the beak, and in other characters, that 
they would certainly have been ranked as distinct genera 
if found in a state of nature. But when the nestling birds 
of these several breeds were placed in a row, though most of 
them could just be distinguished, the proportional differences 
in the above specified points were incomparably less than in 
the full-grown birds. Some characteristic points of differ- 
ence —for instance, that of the width of the mouth — could 
hardly be detected in the young. But there was one remark- 
able exception to this rule, for the young of the short-faced 
tumbler differed from the young of the wild-rock pigeon, 
and of the other breeds in almost exactly the same propor- 
tions as in the adult state.’ ” 
Hurst concludes that: “The more the adult structure 
comes to be unlike the adult structure of the ancestors, the 
more do the late stages of development undergo a modifica- 
tion of the same kind. This is not mere dogma, but it is a 
simple paraphrase of Von Baer’s law. It is proved true not 
only by the observations of Von Baer and of Darwin, already 
referred to, but by the direct observation of every one who 
takes the trouble to compare the embryos of any two verte- 
brates, provided only he will be content to see what actually 
lies before him and not the phantasms which the recapitu- 
lation theory may have printed on his imagination.” 
The growth of the antlers of stags is cited by Hurst in 
order to illustrate that what has been interpreted as a re- 
capitulation may have a different interpretation. “ Each 
stag develops a new pair of antlers in each successive year, 
and each pair of antlers is larger than the pair produced in 
the previous year. This yearly increase in the size of the 
antlers has been put forward as an example of an ontogenetic 
record of past evolution. I, however, deny that it is such a 
record.” 
“ The series of ancestors may have possessed larger antlers 
in each generation than in the generation before it. It is not 
