192 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



PENIKESE — A Reminiscence. 



By One of its Pupils. 



Copyright secured 1895. 



'•Now in regard to protective coloring. What is it 

 if not the way in which some animals are enabled to 

 secure their prey and to guard themselves from their 

 enemies. Look at an instance which I myself noted! 

 A troup of small fishes were quietly swimming over 

 some eel-grass when, suddenly, the} 7 took fright and 

 suched off in a different direction; then, seeing before 

 them a bright, tin peach can, which had been thrown 

 into the water, they separated and instantly darted off 

 in every direction. Now what bothered me for a long 

 time was the cause of their fright at the eel-grass, — 

 and it was a long time before I discovered it. By ac- 

 customing my eyes to the water, and studying it in- 

 tently for some time, I found, buried snugly in the 

 grass and of just the same color, the form of an ugly 

 old sculpin, who, as the fishes came over him, had 

 gulped down some half a dozen of them to make a 

 meal of. The sudden disappearance of so many of 

 their comrads at once, was enough to terrify the ranks 

 of any company. Of course they did not see their 

 enemy until he had made victims of some of their 

 number. Then the poor, innocent tin can must be 

 instantly avoided for its glaring colors. If that is not 

 an instance of protective coloring, what is? 



"Then, too. the practical importance of the 'sur- 

 vival of the fittest' can be illustrated in this way: Sup- 

 pose that there was but one cod fish in the word, and 

 that it produced 9,000,000 eggs. All lived, and each 

 adult fish produced 9,000,000 more eggs. As a result 

 of this increase, the world would soon be buried a 

 thousand feet deep in cod fish. (Applause). But, 

 as it is, they are being continually thinned out: only 

 about one-half of the eggs laid are impregnated, 

 scarcely one-half of these survive impregnation — one- 

 half of this half are killed when very young by frogs 

 and other fishes, and, during their whole growth, they 

 are being continually lessened. Even when fishes 

 (fishes of other species, I mean,) go down the rivers 

 to the ocean," (the professor, doubtless, refers to sal- 

 mon, shad, and other river fish,) there stands a great 

 barrier of enemies through which all must pass: and 

 think what few survive! No wonder that those are 

 the sharpest, keenest, strongest, and best fitted to al- 

 lude their enemies. The remark made concerning 

 shells and their seduction in species, will also apply 

 to fishes and other branches of the animal kingdom; 

 and, contrary to what is stated by the non-evolution- 

 ists that the greater the amount of material we get the 

 better we are able to separate species, I say — that by 

 this we are the better able to condense species. 



"De Caudole accepted, at first, the complete yet 

 complex classification of the oaks, as given by emi- 

 nent botanists; yet even he admits that, given the 

 same climate, temperatures, soil, and other circum- 

 stances which affect their growth, many species con- 

 verge and finally meet. 



•'The divergence of species is going on all over the 

 world, and what we want to do is to unite them as 

 much as possible, and find out the truth in regard to 

 them. If anybody can prove the theory of Mr. Dar- 

 win false by true facts, we are all ready to believe 

 him." 



The professor then spoke of the races and ages of 

 man in the world, since its beginning, and instanced 

 them as proof of the theory which he supported, 

 namely, the "survival of the fittest." He next made 

 a statement, which is the strong point of the whole 

 theory, that: "Even if we look at it in a religious 



point of view, what is more beautiful than to imagine 

 us, in centuries and centuries of time, gradually grow- 

 ing better and better, stronger and stronger and more 

 perfect, until, by the gradual growth and survival of 

 the fittest, the best we have ultimately reaches full 

 perfection. I think that the theory of evolution is 

 the only one that will explain the peculiarities of our 

 living organisms." 



During the latter part of the session of the school, 

 and after Professor Morse's lectures upon evolution, 

 we had a few words upon the subject, though in a dif- 

 ferent direction, from Professor Putnam. Mr. Put- 

 nam is as value and sound a reasoning non-evolution- 

 ist as is Mr. Morse an ardent and theorizing evolution- 

 ist. I well remember how, one day, the former stop- 

 ped suddenly in a lecture upon fishes— the myxine 

 being the subject of his talk — and after looking at us 

 for a few moments with one of his tired yet kindly 

 smiles, said: — 



"As this is my last lecture, and as so much has 

 been said already concerning the theory of evolution, 

 and that in its favor, I think it but fair that a few 

 things should be said to you upon the other side, and 

 I propose, this morning, to give you a few facts that 

 have led me to place myself on that side: — 



"Of the three lowest branches of the vortebrate 

 kingdom, we have represented the lancets, the myx- 

 ine, and the lampreys. Now! if the theory of evolu- 

 tion is correct, we would naturally expect to find these 

 three groups differing only in such a way that one is 

 the higher power of the other; but, what do we find? 

 In the lampreys, the highest of the three classes, we 

 find the eggs forming in the oviduct, and falling free 

 into the abdominal cavity. In this little myxine, be- 

 sides other peculiarities, there are no oviducts." 



Here the professor explained in full the formation 

 of the egg, and the other peculiarities of its growth, 

 etc., and said: "Thus we have an animal next higher 

 than the amphioxus, (the lowest form amongst the 

 vertebrates, and cited by many as the connecting- 

 link between back-bone and non-back-bone life,) giv- 

 ing characteristics similar to those of the higher 

 groups of selachians and even some of the higher 

 orders of animals themselves, though, in general de- 

 velopment, far inferior to the lampreys even, which 

 are higher in so many respects. Now this is only one 

 instance of the distinct roe character of individuals. The 

 evolutionists would probably say, that this simply 

 formed a branch which refused to unite; but, to my 

 mind, that hardly accounts for the fact: It hardly 

 seems possible that there should be found so man}' 

 branches, as there really are, refusing to unite." 



Here, Professor Putnam's remarks were cut short 

 by some call in another direction, and he left the island 

 before completing the talk which he had promised us, 

 and had, so far, so ably and so significantly begun. 



It is, without any doubt, such facts as these: spec- 

 ies of a known and definitely lower group possessing 

 so man)' of the characteristics of the higher animals, 

 that cause the working naturalists to rebel against the 

 ardor of his more sanguine brother scientist, who first 

 pronounces his theory, and then endeavors to fit to it 

 or explain away from it the facts that come within his 

 reach. Without doubt Agassiz saw far enough into 

 Nature's realities to avoid theories and useless contro- 

 versies. He endeavored to let his investigations re- 

 fute theories based upon false premises. 



Professor Morse, when he said that anti-evolution- 

 ists were, "with a few exceptions, merely species de- 

 scribes," forgot the tremendous concession thereby 



{To be continued.) 



