Degeneration: A Chapter in DarwinismLankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir
Science
Degeneration: A Chapter in Darwinism
Lankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir
Degeneration; Evolution (Biology)
[Illustration: FIG. 2.—Tadpoles and young of the Common Frog. 1, Recently
hatched (twice natural size); 2 and 2_a_, same enlarged to show the
external gills; 3 and 4, later stages with gill slits covered by a
membrane leaving only the spiracle (see Fig. 16) as an exit for the
respired water; 5, with hind legs appearing; 6, with both fore and hind
legs; 7, atrophy of the tail; 8, young frog.]
The frog’s egg first gives rise to a little aquatic creature with
external gills and a tail—the tadpole—which gradually loses its gills
and its tail and acquires in their place lungs and four legs (Fig. 2),
so as now to be fitted for life on dry land. From what we otherwise know
of the structure of the frog and the animals to which it is allied, we
are justified in concluding that the tadpole is a recapitulative phase
of development, and represents to us more or less closely an ancestor of
the frog which was provided with gills and tail in the adult state, and
possessed neither legs nor lungs.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.—Adult shrimp of the genus Peneus.]
A less familiar case is that of a certain kind of shrimp, which is
illustrated in the wood-cuts (Fig. 3 and right lower corner of Fig.
4). The little creature which issues from the egg of this shrimp is
known as the “Nauplius form.” Many animals very different in appearance
from this shrimp make their first appearance in the world as Nauplii;
and it appears probable that the Nauplius-phase is the recapitulative
re-presentation of an ancestor common to all this set of animals,
an ancestor which was not _exactly_ like the Nauplius, but not very
different from it.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.—Nauplius larval-form of various Crustacea
(Shrimps, Water-fleas, Barnacles, &c.).]
The Nauplius of our shrimp gradually elongates. At first it has but
three pair of limbs, but it soon acquires additional pairs, and a jointed
body, and thus by gradually adding to its complexity of structure as seen
in Figs. 5 and 6, it approximates more and more to the adult form from
the egg of which it originated.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.—Larva of the Shrimp Peneus.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.—More advanced larva of the Shrimp Peneus.]
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