The early shark ate, amongst other things, quantities of Molluscs and
Brachiopods. Possibly he began with Crustacea; in any case the practice
of crunching shellfish led to a stronger and stronger development of the
hard plate which lined his mouth. The prickles of the plate grew
larger and harder, until--as may be seen to-day in the mouth of a young
shark--the cavity was lined with teeth. In the bulk of the Devonian
sharks these developed into what are significantly called "pavement
teeth." They were solid plates of enamel, an inch or an inch and a half
in width, with which the monster ground its enormous meals of Molluscs,
Crustacea, sea-weed, etc. A new and stimulating element had come into
the life of the invertebrate world. Other sharks snapped larger victims,
and developed the teeth on the edges of their jaws, to the sacrifice
of the others, until we find these teeth in the course of time solid
triangular masses of enamel, four or five inches long, with saw-like
edges. Imagine these terrible mouths--the shears of the Arthrodiran,
and the grindstones and terrible crescents of the giant sharks--moving
speedily amongst the crowded inhabitants of the waters, and it is easy
to see what a stimulus to the attainment of speed and of protective
devices was given to the whole world of the time.
What was the origin of the fish? Here we are in much the same position
as we were in regard to the origin of the higher Invertebrates. Once
the fish plainly appears upon the scene it is found to be undergoing a
process of evolution like all other animals. The vast majority of our
fishes have bony frames (or are Teleosts); the fishes of the Devonian
age nearly all have frames of cartilage, and we know from embryonic
development that cartilage is the first stage in the formation of bone.
In the teeth and tails, also, we find a gradual evolution toward the
higher types. But the earlier record is, for reasons I have already
given, obscure; and as my purpose is rather to discover the agencies
of evolution than to strain slender evidence in drawing up pedigrees, I
need only make brief reference to the state of the problem.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account