188 



NATUKAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



PENIKESE— A Reminiscence. 



By One of its Pupils. 



Copyright secured 1895. 



very good representation of the way in which the ani- 

 mal kingdom was classified by the old writers, — 

 though each writer represented them by a different 

 number of branches and orders: one conceding seven 

 branches and twenty-eight orders; and another, elev- 

 en branches and seventeen orders; and so on. 



"As I have said before, we know that many genera 

 run into each other in such a way that they are al- 

 most wholly indistinguishable from one another, per- 

 haps quite so. We cannot place these doubtful 

 forms in separate families, — for it will not only show 

 that we have not tried to separate them and give 

 them their true places, but that we have built up a 

 false classification, that cannot stand because it has 

 no foundation. Now! what we evolutionists claim is, 

 not that these branches are distinct creations, created 

 to puzzle the naturalist, but that they are diverging 

 species from branches that insensibly run into each 

 other, in the same way that two unparallel lines will, 

 at some time, meet, however different they are at 

 their extremities. Thus we think that the letter V 

 should be the symbol of the evolutionist; thus you 

 will see how one branch insensibly runs into another, 

 and why it is we find no intermediate forms — why it 

 is, also, that the 'missing link' of Darwin, as it is 

 called, is an animal to be dreamed of rather than to 

 be actually seen. 



"Now to prove more completely this nearness of 

 relation, this running of one group into another, let 

 us take some division of the animal kingdom which it 

 would seem impossible to connect with anything but 

 itself. For instance — everybody knows a bird by its 

 feathers. But, if we examine its skeleton, we find 

 that it corresponds to a reptile standing upon two 

 legs; with the front legs slightly modified to suit a 

 different sphere of action, the long tail off — to effect 

 a balance, and the head slightly altered to suit a 

 change in food. Note, now, the result of investiga- 

 tion! An animal was found, some years since, with 

 such truly reptilian characters, that even the best 

 anatomists thought that it was a reptile. At first, all 

 of the parts of this wonderful animal were not dis- 

 covered; but, little by little, the remaining parts 

 came to light, until the discovery of the head, by Pro- 

 fessor Marsh, completed the skeleton. All of its 

 characteristics, save one, were reptilian, and, but for 

 that one, it would have been considered the skeleton 

 of a reptile: In place of the four legs there was a 

 wonderful development of the two wings of a bird, 

 slightly modified to suit the form of the animal, and 

 from these wing-shaped structures proceeded actual 

 feathers. There was the central shaft, the barbs, and 

 the barblets clearly defined — leaving no doubt what- 

 ever as to the identity of the animal in question. It 

 was a reptilian bird. And so we find two orders, or 

 rather branches, which it seemed at first sight impos- 

 sible not to distinguish, so running into each other as 

 to present an animal possible to belong to either. A 

 connecting-link, as we wouVd call it, between the 

 birds and the reptiles. What can this be but the de- 

 velopment of the one into the other? Here we have 

 a means of communication between the two branches, 

 — but this is not all. 



"Again, look at the embryonic stages of the bird 

 and some of the higher reptiles and you will find, that, 

 at a certain stage, the young bird is, apparently, iden- 

 tical in structure with tbe young reptile. Place the 

 two, at that stage, side by side, and you will fail to 

 tell which is the bird and which the reptile. It is 



only at a further stage of the development that the 

 characteristics begin to change, and the bird assumes 

 the elongated beak, and the webbed toes, which, at a 

 certain stage, are found in all bird embryos; the front 

 legs then assume the form of wings, and the tail is 

 lost. The reptile retains its peculiarities." 



The professor here entered into a long and very 

 scientific discussion, by which he considered it prov- 

 en, beyond further, reasonable doubt, that "tarsal, 

 true tarsal bones," existed in birds, and could be dis- 

 covered, under medium powers of the microscope, in 

 the embryo, at a certain stage of its development. 

 This he affirmed, proved "another point of connection 

 between the birds and the reptiles" 



Still continuing, he says: — 



"With a few exceptions, ante-evolutionists are 

 merely species describers. They are careless of dero 

 conditions and circumstances may alter growth; and 

 are endeavoring to build up monumens for themselves 

 by describing new species. Now if evolution be true, 

 down will go their species." (The professor had been 

 talking particularly of mollusks, — but whether of the 

 Unios or of the La?id shells, the notes do not state). 

 "Look at the difference .in the number of species 

 abroad and in this country. In England they have 

 been reduced to about forty; and an eminent natura- 

 list has taken some dozen of these and, by subjecting 

 them to different circumstances, actually reduced that 

 number. If this can be done in a short period of 

 time, what might we not expect in looking back for 

 one or even two hundred thousands of years? Take 

 the species in New England, some twenty; and then 

 go to the western portion of the United States, — in 

 Ohio, Tennessee, and the tributaries of the vast Miss- 

 issippi — surrounded on the north by the Laurentian 

 chain, on the east by the Alleghanies, and on the west 

 by the Rocky mountains — one vast basin! and we find 

 species living in the brackish pools of water that are 

 identified with those living in the sea. In the fresh 

 water we find living species that are identical with 

 those living in the brackish water. These all go by 

 different names, because found in different localities; 

 but they are so absolutely identical that, if placed 

 side by side it is impossible to separate them. This 

 is true of a great majority of our species — so called. 

 Now what is the cause? It is clear enough to my 

 mind. The sea, formerly, filled this large basin, and, 

 gradually receding, left those large rivers which, af- 

 ter being nourished by the rain for years, grew fresh 

 retaining many of their old and more hardy forms of 

 animal life from the ocean. These forms, in turn, 

 gradually became changed so as to sustain life in 

 brackish, and then in fresh water. This process of 

 change of living to suit a difference of environment, 

 can now actually be performed with some of our spe- 

 cies. Thus we find, that it is possible to take forms, 

 which if introduced directly into fresh water would be 

 instantly killed, and by gradually modifying their cir- 

 cumstances, cause them to become actual inhabitants 

 of fresh water and, in the naturalists' estimation, new 

 species. 



"Professor Hooker took Alpine plants and brought 

 them to the foot of the mountain upon which he found 

 them, and, in a few years, actually succeeded in pro- 

 ducing plants which, in every respect, differed from 

 the originals, yet combining certain characters which 

 proved them identical with a species of a wholly dif- 

 ferent name and genus. By and by the naturalist 

 will be endowed with prophetic vision, as it were, and 

 be able to tell when to expect certain modifications, 

 and where to find them. 



(To be continued.) 



