a UJ a a a uu Ln a \ <• N THE PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION THE PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION BY E. D. COPE, PH. D. MEMBER OF THE U. S. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES', PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA CHICAGO THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY (LONDON: 17 JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET ST., E. C.) 1896 COPYRIGHT BY THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING Co. CHICAGO, ILL., 1896. ILakrstlif R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS CO., CHICAGO. PREFACE. THE present book is an attempt to select from the mass of facts accumulated by biologists, those which, in the author's opinion, throw a clear light on the problem of organic evolution, and especially that of the animal kingdom. As the actual lines of descent can be finally demonstrated chiefly from paleontologic re- search, I have drawn a large part of my evidence from this source. Of course, the restriction imposed by limited space has compelled the omission of a great many facts which have an important bear- ing on the problem. I have preferred the paleontologic evidence for another reason. Darwin and the writers of his immediate school have drawn most of their evidence from facts which are embraced in the science of cecology. Weismann and writers of | his type draw most of their evidence from the facts of embryology, j The mass of facts recently brought to light in the field of paleon- tology, especially in the United States, remained to be presented, and the evidence they contain interwoven with that derived from the sources mentioned. Many of the zoologists of this country, in common with many of those of other nations, have found reason for believing that the factors of evolution which were first clearly formulated by La- marck, are really such. This view is taken in the following pages, and the book may be regarded as containing a plea on their behalf. In other words, the argument is constructive and not destructive. The attempt is made to show what we know, rather than what we do not know. This is proper at this time, since, in my opinion, a certain amount of evidence has accumulated to demonstrate the doctrine here defended, and which I have defended as a working hypothesis for twenty-five years. In the following pages I have cited many authors who have contributed to the result, but it has been impossible to cite all who vi PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. have written on one part or another of the subject. If some very meritorious essays have not been cited, it has been generally be- cause I have confined myself to those in which facts or doctrines were first presented, and have not had so much occasion to refer to those of later date. Mr. Romanes, in his posthumous book, Volume II. of his Dar- win t and After Darwin on Post- Darwinian Questions, expresses the following opinion of the position which has been taken by the Neo-Lamarckians of this country. He says that they do not dis- tinguish between the " statement of facts in terms of a proposition, and an explanation of them in terms of causality." Had Mr. Ro- manes been acquainted with the literature of the subject published in America and elsewhere during the last three years, he would have had reason to change this view of the case. I think he would have found in it demonstration "in terms of causality." At the outset it must be stated that a knowledge of the history of organic evolution rests primarily on the science of morphology, and secondarily on the kinematics of the growth of organic struc- tures. The phenomenon to be explained is the genealogical suc- cession, or phylogeny of organisms ; and the access to this subject is through the sciences of paleontology and embryology. The phe- nomena of the functioning of the organism, or physiology, are only incidentally referred to, as not the real object of inquiry. Since organic species are much more numerous than the tissues of which they are composed, organogenesis must claim attention more largely than histogenesis. It is true that histogenesis is fundamental, but it is a science as yet in its early infancy, and little space can be given to it. The exact how of organic evolution will never be finally solved, however, until our knowledge of histogenesis is com- plete. The research depicted in the following pages has proceeded on the assumption that every variation in the characteristics of organic beings, however slight, has a direct efficient cause. This assump- tion is sustained by all rational and philosophical considerations. Any theory of evolution which omits the explanation of the causes of variations is faulty at the basis. Hence the theory of selection cannot answer the question which we seek to solve, although it embraces an important factor in the production of the general re- sult of evolution. In the search for the factors of evolution, we must have first a knowledge of the course of evolution. This can only be obtained PREFACE. vii in a final and positive form by investigation of the succession of life. The record of this succession is contained in the sedimentary deposits of the earth's crust, and is necessarily imperfect. Advance in knowledge in this direction has, however, been very great of re- cent years, so that some parts of the genealogical tree are tolerably or quite complete. We hope reasonably for continued progress in this direction, and if the future is to be judged of by the past, the number of gaps in our knowledge will be greatly lessened. In_thel absence of the paleontologic record, we necessarily rely on the em- bryologic, which contains a recapitulation of it. The imperfections of the embryonic record are, however, great, and this record differs from the paleontologic in that no future discovery in embryology can correct its irregularities. On the contrary every paleontologic discovery is an addition to positive genealogy. If the present work has any merit, it is derived from the fact that the basis of the argu- ment is the paleontologic record. E. D. COPE. PHILADELPHIA, November i, 1895. CONTENTS. PAGE PREFACE v TABLE OF CONTENTS ix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii INTRODUCTION i PART I. THE NATURE OF VARIATION. PRELIMINARY 19 CHAPTER I. VARIATION. Preliminary 21 1. Variations of Specific Characters 25 a. Variations in Cicindela 25 l>. Variations in Osceola doliata 29 c. Color- Variations in Cnemidophorus 41 d. Variations in North American Birds and Mam- mals in Relation to Locality 45 2. Variation of Structural Characters 58 3. Successional Relation 62 CHAPTER II. PHYLOGENY. 1. General Phylogeny 74 2. Phylogeny of the Vertebrata 83 a. Phylogeny of the Classes 83 b. The Line of the Pisces 99 c. The Line of the Batrachia ....'... 108 d. The Line of the Reptilia 113 e. The Line of the Aves 123 f. The Line of the Mammalia 126 g. Review of the Phylogeny of the Mammalia . 138 x PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. PAGE h. Phylogeny of the Horse 146 i. The Phylogeny of Man 150 3. The Law of the Unspecialized 172 CHAPTER III. PARALLELISM. Preliminary 175 1. Parallelism in the Brachiopoda 176 2. Parallelism in the Cephalopoda 182 3. Parallelism in the Vertebrata 192 4. Inexact Parallelism or Caenogeny 200 5. Objections to the Doctrine of Parallelism 205 CHAPTER IV. CATAGENESIS. , 211 PART II. THE CAUSES OF VARIATION. PRELIMINARY 225 CHAPTER V. PHYSIOGENESIS. Preliminary 227 a. Relation of Size of Mollusca to Environment . . 229 b. The Conversion of Artemia into Branchinecta . 229 c. Production of Colors in Lepidopterous Pupae . . 230 d. Effect of Light on the Colors of Flatfishes . . . 238 e. Effect of Feeding on Color in Birds 238 f. Blindness in Cave Animals 241 CHAPTER VI. KINETOGENESIS. Preliminary 246 1. Kinetogenesis of Muscular Structure 249 2. Kinetogenesis in Mollusca 255 a. Origin of the Plaits in the Columella of the Gas- teropoda 255 b. Mechanical Origin of Characters in the Lamelli- branchiata 261 c. Mechanical Origin of the Impressed Zone in Cephalopoda 268 3. Kinetogenesis in Vermes and Arthropoda . . . . . 268 4. Kinetogenesis in Vertebrata 275 i. Kinetogenesis of Osseous Tissue 275 a. Abnormal Articulations 275 CONTENTS. xi PAGE b. Normal Articulations .......... 283 c. The Physiology of Bone Moulding ..... 285 ii. Moulding of the Articulations ........ 287 a. The Limb Articulations ......... 287 b. The Forms of Vertebral Centra ...... 302 iii. Increase of Size Through Use ........ 304 a. The Proportions of the Limbs and their Segments 305 b. The Number of the Digits .... ..... 309 c. The Horns ............. 314 iv. Mechanical Origin of Dental Types ...... 318 Preliminary .............. 318 a. The Origin of Canine Teeth ....... 327 b. The Development of the Incisors ...... 328 c. The Development of Molars ....... 331 d. Origin of the Carnivorous Dentition ..... 332 e. Origin of the Dental Type of the Glires .... 345 v. Disuse in Mammalia ........... 352 a. Natatory Limbs ............ 352 b. Abortion of Phalanges in Ungulata ..... 353 c. Atrophy of Ulna and Fibula ....... 355 d. Atrophy of Incisor Teeth ........ 356 vi. Homoplassy in Mammalia ......... 357 vii. Origin of the Divisions of Vertebrata ..... 362 5. Objections to Kinetogenesis ......... 375 CHAPTER VII. NATURAL SELECTION . w; ....... 385 PART III. THE INHERITANCE OF VARIATION. PRELIMINARY ..... ........... 397 CHAPTER VIII. HEREDITY. 1. The Question Stated ............ 398 2. Evidence from Embryology ......... 401 a. Vertebrata ............. 401 b. Arthropoda ............. 404 3. Evidence from Paleontology ......... 405 a. The Impressed Zone of the Nautiloids .... 405 4. Evidence from Breeding . . . ....... 422 a. Of Characters Due to Nutrition ...... 423 b. Of Characters Due to Exercise of Function . . 426 c. Of Characters Due to Disease ....... 430 xii PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. PAGE d. Of Characters Due to Mutilation and Injuries . 431 e. Of Characters Due to Regional Influences . . . 435 5. The Conditions of Inheritance 438 6. Objections to the Doctrine of Inheritance of Acquired Characters 458 CHAPTER IX. THE ENERGY OF EVOLUTION. Preliminary 473 1. Anagenesis 475 2. Bathmogenesis 484 CHAPTER X. THE FUNCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 1. Consciousness and Automatism 495 2. The Effects of Consciousness ......... 509 CHAPTER XI. THE OPINIONS OF NEO-LAMARCKIANS .... 518 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Fig. i. Horn on Cicindela 27 2. Osceola doliala triangula 32 3. Osceola doliata clerica 32 4. Osceola doliata collaris 34 5. Osceola doliata temporalis 34 6-7. Osceola doliata doliata 36 8. Osceola doliata syspila 38 9. Osceola doliata parallela 38 10. Osceola doliata anmilata 40 11. Osceola doliata coccinea 40 12. Cnemidophorus tessellatus 42 13. Cnemidop horus gularis 43 14. Lacerta muralis 44 15. Shoulder-girdle of Phyllomedusa bicolor 64 16. Do. of Rana temporaria, tadpole with budding limbs. 64 17. Do., adult 64 18. Bufonidae 66 19. Scaphiopidae and Pelobatidae 66 20. Hylidae 67 21. Cystignathidae 67 22. Ranidae 67 23. Feet of Uma scoparia Cope, and Ptenopus garrttlus Smith 72 24. Eusthenopterum foordii Whiteaves 90 25. Paired fins of Cladoselache Dean 92 26. Extremities of skeletons of caudal fins of fishes . . 96 27. Cruottts crassidiscus Cope, head and belly . . . .in 28. Cricotus crassidiscus Cope, vertebral column and pelvis 112 xiv PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. PAGE Fig. 29. Crania of Stegocephalia and Cotylosauria . . . .117 30. Diagrams of crania of Reptilia 118 31. Do 119 32. Archceopteryx lithographica Wagn 125 33. Ungulata, anterior feet 129 34. Ungulata, posterior feet 130 35. Ungulata, anterior and posterior feet 131 36. PJienacodus vortmanii Cope 134 37. Fore and hind limbs of PJienacodus primccvus and Homo sapiens 137 38. Skull of Anaptomorplms Jwmunculus Cope. Lower jaw of AnaptomorpJius icmuhis Cope 151 39. Tomitherium rostratum Cope, mandible 156 40. Tomitherium rostratum Cope, fore arm 157 41. -Tomitherium rostratum Cope, ilium and femur . . 158 42. Megaladapis madagascariensis Forsyth Major . . . 160 43. Skull of the man of Spy 161 44. Outlines of calvaria of the Neanderthal man, of the Spy men 162 45. Vertical sections of symphysis mandibuli of gorilla ; of orang ; of chimpanzee ; of Spy men .... 164 46. Sections of symphysis mandibuli of modern Liegois and of an ancient Parisian 166 47. Molar teeth of man .... 167 48. Parallelism in Brachiopoda .... .... 181 49. Circulatory systems 194 50. Succession of horns of Cervus elaphus L 197 51. Shoulder-girdles of Anura 198 52. Lern&a branchialis 212 53. EntoconcJia mirabilis Miill 214 54. Mycetozoa 220 55- Typhlogobius calif orniensis Steind 245 56. Fusus parilis Con., displaying non-plicate columella. 257 57. Mitra lineolata Heilprin, showing the plications of the columella . - 259 58. Siphocyprcea problematica Heilprin, showing plica- tions of lips 260 59. Ostrea edtilis, embryo 262 60. Mya arenaria 263 (5 1. Modiola plicatula .... 264 LIST OF ILL US TRA TIONS. x v PAGE Fig. 62. Ostrea virginiana 264 63. Diagrammatic representation of the segments of the leech 270 64. Diagrammatic representation of the rings of a primi- tive crustacean 271 65. Diagrams of hand of Crangon and of Astacus . . . 274 66. Elbows of man and horse 280 67. Elbow of horse • . . 281 68. Periptychus rhabdodon Cope, showing foot .... 288 69. Hind foot of Poebrotherium labiatum Cope .... 290 70. Hind foot of three-toed horse 290 71. United first bones of two middle toes of deer-antelope 291 72. Wrist-joints at distal extremity of fore arm . . . 292 73. Elbow-joint of Crocuta maculata L 294 74. Elbow-joint of chimpanzee 295 75. Elbow-joint of Cervus elaphus 296 76. Cervus canadensis in motion 297 77. Cervus elaphus 298 78. Diagram of carpus of a Taxeopod, of a diplarthrous ungulate 299 79. Raccoon pacing 299 80. Rhinocerus unicornis carpus 300 81. Eqiius caballus fore foot 300 82. Gazella dorcas 301 83. Pes of Merychochecrus montanus and Bos taurus . . 307 84. Anterior feet of primitive Ungulata 308 85. Right posterior foot of Prothippus and Poebrotherium 310 86. Manus of Artiodactyla 312 87. Burrs on antlers of Cosoryx necatus Leidy . . . .316 88. Diagram of excursion of lower jaw in mastication . 320 89. Cervus, molars 321 90. Cusps of superior premolars and molars 322 91. Two true molars of both jaws of a ruminant . . . 323 92. Sections of superior molar teeth 323 93. Chirox plicatus Cope, palate and molar teeth . . . 324 94. Meniscoessus conquistus Cope, last two superior mo- lars 325 95. Lenmr collaris, dentition 326 96. Esthonyx burmeisterii Cope, dentition 328 xvi PRIMAR Y FA CTORS OF ORGANIC E VOL UTION. PAGE Fig. 97. Psittacotherium multifragum Cope, mandibular ra- mus 329 98. Diagrammatic representations of horizontal sections of tricuspidate molars of both jaws in mutual rela- tion 333 99. Deltatherium fundaminis Cope, fragmentary skull . 336 100. Centetes ecaudatus, skull and molars 337 101. Inferior molar crowns representing transition from the simple to the quadritubercular 338 102. Stypholophus whitim Cope ; apposition of inferior and superior molars 339 103. Cyno dictis geismariamis Cope ; skull 341 104. Aelurodon savus Leidy; coadaptation of crowns of superior and inferior molars in mastication . . . 342 105. Smilodon neogceus Lund ; skull 344 106. Sections of crowns of molars of Ungulata .... 345 107. Cas (oroides ohioensis Foster ; skull 347 108. Castoro'ides ohioensis Foster ; skull from below . . 350 109. Ischyromys typus Leidy ; cranium and mandible . . 351 no. Balcrna mysticetits ; fore limb 353 in. Feet of Amblypoda 354 112. Feet of Proterotheriidae 358 113. Dorsal vertebrae of merospondylous fishes .... 370 114. Vertebral column of Ery ops megacephalns Cope . . 371 114^7 Sleeve of coat 371 115. JMetatoceras cavatiformis Hyatt 406 116. Do 407 117. Temnochilus crassus 407 118. Metacoceras dubium Hyatt 408 119. Hyatt on Cephalopoda 410 120. Diagram explanatory of Diplogenesis . ..... 441 INTRODUCTION. THE doctrine of evolution may be denned as the teaching which holds that creation has been and is accomplished by the agency of the energies which are intrinsic in the evolving matter, and without the interference of agencies which are external to it. It holds this to be true of the combinations and forms of inorganic nature, and of those of organic nature as well. Whether the intrinsic energies which accom- plish evolution be forms of radiant or other energy only, acting inversely as the square of the distance, and without consciousness, or whether they be ener- gies whose direction is affected by the presence of con sciousness, the energy is a property of the physical basis of tridimensional matter, and is not outside of it, according to the doctrine we are about to consider. As a view of nature from an especial standpoint, evolution takes its place as a distinct science. The science of evolution is the science of creation, and is as such to be distinguished broadly from the sciences which consider the other operations of nature, or the functioning of nature, which are not processes of crea- tion, but processes of destruction. This contrast is \ especially obvious in organic evolution, where the two processes go on side by side, and are often closely in- 2 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. termingled, as for instance in muscular action, where both destruction of proteids and growth of muscular tissue result from the same acts, or use. Physiology, or the science of functions, concerns itself chiefly with destruction, and hence physiologists are especially prone to be insensible to the phenomena and laws of progressive evolution. The building of the embryo, remains a sealed book to the physiologist unless he take into account the allied biological science of evo- lution, as resting on the facts of botany, zoology, and paleontology. In his reflections on the relations of mind to matter he is likely to see only the destructive functioning of tissue, and not the history of the build- ing of the same during the ages of geological time. J. B. P. A. Lamarck1 thus contrasts the theories of direct creation, and creation by evolution. The former asserts : "That nature or its author in creating animals has foreseen all possible kinds of circumstances in which they may have to live, and has given to each species a permanent organization as well as a prede- termined form, invariable in its parts ; that it forces each species to live in the place and the climate where one finds them, and to preserve there the habits which it has." He then states his own, or the evolutionary, opinion to be: "That nature in producing succes- sively all species of animals, commencing with the most imperfect or simple, and terminating its work with the most perfect, has gradually complicated their organization ; and these animals spreading themselves gradually into all habitable regions of the globe, - each species has been subjected to the influence of the circumstances in which it is ; and these have produced the habits which we observe, and the modifications of \Philosophie Zoologiqne, Paris, 1809, Vol. I., Chap. VII. AY TR OD UC TION. 3 its parts." On an earlier page of the same chapter, Lamarck thus formulates the laws of organic evolu- tion, to which his name has been attached. First law. " In every animal which has not passed the time of its development, the frequent and sustained employment of an organ gradually strengthens it, de- velops and enlarges it, and gives it power proportional to the duration of its use ; while the constant disuse of a like organ weakens it, insensibly deteriorates it, progressively reduces its functions, and finally causes it to disappear." Second law. "All that nature acquires or loses in individuals by the influence of circumstances to which the race has been exposed for a long time, and in con- sequence of the influence of the predominate employ- ment of such an organ, or of the influence of disuse of such part, she preserves by generation, in new indi- viduals which spring from it, providing the acquired changes be common to both sexes, or to those which have produced new individuals. '' We have here a theory of the origin of characters ; viz., of the increased development or loss of parts as a result of use or disuse. We have also the theory that the peculiarities thus acquired are transmitted to the succeeding generation by inheritance. The next formal statement of the efficient cause of organic evolution was presented by Messrs-. Charles Darwin and Alfred R. Wallace in ^g.1 The cause assigned is natural selection, and Mr. Darwin thus states what is meant by this expression in his work The Origin of Species.'1 " If under changing conditions of life organic beings present individual differences \ Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London. 2 Ed. 1872, p. 102. 4 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION, in almost any part of their structure, and this cannot be disputed ; if there be, owing to their geometrical rate of increase, a severe struggle for life at some age, season, or year, and this certainly cannot be disputed ; then considering the infinite complexity of the rela- tions of all organic beings to each other and to their conditions of life, causing an infinite diversity of struc- ture, constitution, and habits, to be advantageous to them, it would be a most extraordinary fact if no varia- tions had ever occurred useful to each being's own wel- fare, in the same manner as so many variations have, occurred useful to man. But if variations useful to any organic being ever do occur, assuredly individuals thus characterized will have the best chance of being preserved in the struggle for life ; and from the strong principle of inheritance, these will tend to produce off- spring similarly characterized. This principle of pre- servation, or the survival of the fittest, I have called natural selection. It leads to the improvement of each creature in relation to its organic and inorganic condi- tions of life ; and consequently in most cases, to what must be regarded as an advance in organization. Nevertheless, low and simple forms will long endure if well fitted for their simple conditions of life." It is readily perceived that this statement makes no attempt to account for the origin of variations, but that it simply formulates, as observed by Mr. Darwin, the doctrine of survival of such variations as are most useful to their possessors. This fact is more distinctly pointed out in the same work (p. 63) where the author remarks: "Several writers have misapprehended or objected to the term natural selection. Some have even imagined that natural selection induces variabil- ity, whereas it implies only the preservation of such INTR OD UC TIOAT. 5 variations as arise and are beneficial to the being under its conditions of life. No one objects to agriculturists speaking of the potent effects of man's selection, and in this case the individual differences given by nature, which man for some object selects, must of necessity first occur." It is evident then that Mr. Darwin did not attempt to account for the origin of variations, but that the service rendered by him and by Mr. Wallace to the doctrine of evolution consists in the demonstra- tion of the reality of natural selection. Darwin also assumes in the statement first quoted above, the in- heritance of acquired characters. In 1865 the Principles of Biology of Herbert Spen- cer appeared. In this work the attempt is made to set forth the laws of organic evolution, in a way which represents an advance beyond the positions of his predecessors. He adopts and harmonizes both the Lamarckian and Darwinian doctrines, and is at times more specific in his application of Lamarck's doctrine of the stimulus of the environment, and of use, than was Lamarck himself. Very often, however, Spencer contents himself with generalities ; or takes refuge in the "instability of the homogeneous," as an efficient cause. This phrase, however, like his other one, "the unknowable," is but a makeshift of temporary ignor- ance, and is neglected by Spencer himself, when he can see his way through it. He approaches the cause of the varied forms of leaves of plants in this language :l "And it will also be remembered that these equalities and inequalities of development correspond with the equalities and inequalities in the incidence of forces." Language of similar significant but rather indefinite import is frequently used throughout this volume. 1 The Principles of Biology, by Herbert Spencer, Amer. Ed., 1873, II., p. 143. ' 6 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION, But in some cases Spencer is more specific. With reference to the inequality in the basal lobes of the erect leaves of Tilia and other plants, he says:1 "A considerable deviation from bilateral symmetry may be seen in a leaf which habitually so carries itself that the half on the one side of the midrib is more shaded than the other half. The drooping branches of the lime show us leaves so arranged and so modified. On examining their attitudes and their relations one to another, it will be found that each leaf is so inclined that the half of it next the shoot grows over the shoot and gets plenty of light ; while the other half so hangs down that it comes a good deal into the shade of the preceding leaf. The result is that having learned which fall into these positions, the species profits by a large development of the exposed halves ; and by survival of the fittest acting along with the direct effect of extra exposure, this modification becomes established." In his discussion of the origin of the characters of ani- mals, Spencer is also sometimes specific. Respecting the development of muscular insertions he remarks :2 "Anatomists easily discriminate between the bones of a strong man and those of a weak man by the greater development of those ridges and crests to which the muscles are attached ; and naturalists on comparing the remains of domesticated animals with those of wild animals of the same species, find kindred differ- ences. The first of these facts shows unmistakably the immediate effect of function on structure, and, by obvious alliance with it, the second may be held to do the same, both implying that the deposit of dense sub- stance capable of great resistance habitually takes \Op. cit., p. 143. 2 Loc. cit., p. 200. AV TR ODUC TION. 7 place at points where the tension is excessive." Quite as specific is his ascription of the forms of epithelial cells to definite causes, as follows:1 " Justine equal- ities and inequalities of dimensions among aggregated cells, are here caused by the equalities and inequalities among their mutual pressures in different directions ; so though less manifestly, the equalities and inequali- ties of dimensions among other aggregated cells, are caused by the equalities and inequalities of the osmatic, chemical, thermal, and other forces besides the me- chanical, to which their different positions subject them." In spite of this not infrequent definiteness, Mr. Spencer occasionally falls into the error of ascribing the origin of structures to natural selection, as in the case of the forms of flowers,2 and the armor-plates of paleozoic fishes.3 Spencer assumes the inheritance of acquired characters throughout. In 1866 Haeckel's Schopfungsgeschichte appeared. In this work the author presents a mass of evidence which sustains the doctrine of evolution, and he com- bines the views of Lamarck and Darwin into a general system. He says:4 "We should, on account of the grand proofs just enumerated, have to adopt Lamarck's theory of descent for the explanation of biological phe- nomena, even if we did not possess Darwin's theory of selection. The one is so completely and directly proved by the other, and established by mechanical causes, that there remains nothing to be desired. The laws of inheritance and adaptation are universally acknowl- 1 Op. cit., p. 260. 26>/. eft., p. 153. 3<7/. cit., p. 288. 477/t- History of Creation, Amer. Edition, II., p. 355. 8 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. edged physiological facts, the former traceable to prop- agation, the latter to the nutrition of organisms.'3 Apart from the statement that adaptation is traceable "to the nutrition of organisms, " we find nothing in Haeckel's earlier writings which attempts the ex- planation of the origin of variations, beyond the gen- eral position assumed by Lamarck. The distinctive merit of Haeckel is his formulation of phylogeny. Much of this was speculative at the time he wrote, but so far as the Vertebrata are concerned, it has been largely confirmed by subsequent discovery. Up to this period, the form in which the doctrine of evolution had been presented, was general in its application ; that is, without exact reference to the structural definitions of natural taxonomic groups. No attempt was made to show the modes of the origin of any particular class, order, or genus, and only in the most general way in the case of a few species, by Mr. Darwin. Phylogeny was untried, except by Haeckel; and this distinguished author did not attempt to ac- count specifically for the origins of the divisions whose filiations he set forth. In the year in which Haeckel's work above cited appeared, Professor Hyatt of Boston and myself took the first step towards the formulization of a rational theory of the origin of variation, which should accord with specific examples of taxonomy. Quite indepen- dently, we selected the simple series presented by the characters of genera in their natural relations, Hyatt in the cephalopodous Mollusca, and I in the Batrachia Salientia. It is probable that Hyatt's1 article was pub- lished shortly before mine. He says of the genera of Cephalopoda : "In other words, there is an increasing 1. Memoirs Boston Society Natural History, 1866, p. 193. INTRODUCTION. concentration of the adult characteristics in the young ] of higher species and a consequent displacement of other embryonic features which had themselves also previously belonged to the adult period of still lower forms." My own language is :l "That the presence, rudimental condition, or absence of a given generic character can be accounted for on the hypothesis of a greater rapidity of development in the individuals of the species of the extreme type, such stimulus being more and more vigorous in the individuals of the types as we advance towards the same, or by a reversed im- pulse2 of development, where the extreme is charac- terized by absence or 'mutilation ' of characters." The phenomena of the aggregation of characters in pro- gressive evolution, and the loss of characters in retro- gressive evolution, were termed by me acceleration and , retardation in an essay published in 1869. 3 In these papers by Professor Hyatt and myself is found the first attempt to show by concrete examples of natural taxonomy, that the variations that result in evolution are not multifarious or promiscuous, but definite and direct, contrary to the method which seeks no origin for variations other than natural selection. In other words, these publications constitute the first essays in systematic evolution that appeared. By the discovery of the paleontologic succession of modifications of the articulations of the vertebrate, and especially mamma- lian skeleton, I first furnished an actual demonstration of the reality of the Lamarckian factor of use, or mo- 1 Transactions American Philosophical Society, 1866, p. 398; reprinted in The Origin of the Fittest, p. 92. 2 The expression " reversed " is unfortunate, diminished being the proper word to convey the meaning intended. 3 The Origin of Genera, Philadelphia, 1869. io PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. tion, as friction, impact, and strain, as an efficient cause of evolution.1 This demonstration led me to the necessary inference that when the agency directive of motion is consciousness, this also has been an impor- tant factor of evolution, in demonstration of the sup- position of Erasmus Darwin.2 Hyatt has demonstrated first on paleontologic evidence, the inheritance of a mechanically acquired character. Important contribu- tions to corresponding histories of the Mollusca have been made by Hyatt,3 Dall,4 Jackson,5 and Beecher.6 Many other contributions, into which the paleontologic evidence does not enter, have also been made by vari- ous authors in Europe and America. The authors quoted up to this point had all as- sumed that the progress of evolution depends on the inheritance by the offspring of new characters acquired by the parent, and had believed that such is the fact in ordinary experience. In 1883, Weismann, in an essay on heredity, announced the opinion that charac- ters acquired by the body could not be transmitted to the reproductive cells, and could not therefore be in- herited. This doctrine rests on the relation of the germ-cells to those of the rest of the body, which is expressed in the following language of his predecessor Jaeger: "Through a great series of generations the l"The Origin of the Hard Parts of Mammalia," American Journal of Morphology, 1889, p. 137. 2 Origin of the Fittest, 1887, p. 357. 3"Phylogeny of an Acquired Characteristic," Proc. Ainer. Philosophical Society, 1893, p. 349; "The Genesis of the Arietidae," Memoirs Mus. Compar. Zoology, Cambridge, Mass., 1889, XVI., No. 3. 4Dall, W. H., "The Hinge of Pelecypods and Its Development, Amer. Jour. Sci.Arts, 1889, XXXVIII., p. 445. 5 Jackson, R. T., " Phylogeny of the Pelecypoda, the Aviculidas, and Their Allies," Memoirs Boston Society Natural History, 1890, IV., p. 277. 6 American Journal Sci. Arts, 1893. 1NTR OD UC TION, 1 1 germinal protoplasm retains its specific properties, dividing in every reproduction into an ontogenetic por- tion and a phylogenetic portion, which is reserved to form the reproductive material of the mature offspring. This reservation of the phylogenetic material I de- scribed as the continuity of the germ-protoplasm. . . . Encapsuled in the ontogenetic material the phyloge- netic protoplasm is sheltered from external influences, and retains its specific and embryonic characters." In other words, the reproductive cells are removed from the influence of those stimuli which affect and effect growth in the cells of the other parts of the body, so that no character acquired by the rest of the body can be inherited. The bearing of this theory on evolution is thus stated by Weismann : L "The origin of heredi- tary individual variations cannot indeed be found in the higher organisms, the metazoa and metaphyta, but is to be sought for in the lowest, the unicellular." "The formation of new species, which among the lower pro- tozoa could be achieved without amphigony (sexual union), could only be attained by means of this process in the metazoa and metaphyta. It was only in this way that hereditary individual differences could arise and persist.'' In other words, variation in organic beings above the unicellular forms, has been and is, introduced only by sexual reproduction. The conclusions of Weismann were derived prin- cipally from embryologic research, and his disciples have been chiefly recruited from embryologists. These conclusions have been supported by extensive and ex- haustive investigations, which have added greatly to our knowledge of the subject. In order to account for l Ksstij's, p. 296. For a complete account of Weismann' s views, see The Germ-Plasm, 1893. 12 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. the appearance of characters in the embryonic succes- sion, through influences confined to the germ-plasma, Weismann invented a theory which requires the pres- ence of distinct molecular aggregates within it, which represent the potentialities or causes. To these he has given the names of ids, idants, determinants, etc. As Weismann's contribution to evolution has been con- fined to the department of heredity, I will consider it more particularly in the third part of this book, which is devoted to that subject. Weismann has, however, subsequently modified his views to a considerable extent. He has always admitted the doctrine of Lamarck to be applicable to the evolution of the types of unicellular organisms. His experiments on the effect of temperature on the production of changes of color in butterflies, showed that such changes were not only effected, but were sometimes inherited. This he endeavors to explain as follows.1 "Many climatic variations may be due wrholly or in part, to the simultaneous variation of correspond- ing determinants in some parts of the soma and in the germ-plasm of the reproductive cells." This is an ad- mission of the doctrine which in 1890 I called Diplo- genesis,2 and which is adopted in the present work. It appears to have been first propounded by Galton in 1875. In the chapter on Heredity I hope to offer some reasons for believing that the suggestion of Galton embraces the true doctrine of heredity. From what has preceded, two distinct lines of thought explanatory of the fact of organic evolution may be discerned. In one of these the variations of organisms which constitute progressive and regressive 1 The Germ Plasm, Contemporary Science Series, 1893, p. 406. ^American Naturalist, Dec., 1889; published in 1890. INTRODUCTION. evolution appear fortuitously, and those which are beneficial survive by natural selection, while those which are not so, disappear. Characters both benefi- cial and useless or harmless, which are acquired by the adult organism, are not transmitted to the young, so that no education in habit or structure acquired by the adult, has any influence in altering the course of evo- lution. This is the doctrine of Preformation. From this point of view the cause of the variations of organ- isms has yet to be discovered. The other point of view sees in variation the direct result of stimuli from within or without the organism ; and holds that evolution consists of the inheritance of such variations and the survival of the fit through nat- ural selection. This is the doctrine of Epigenesis. To this I would add that in so far as sensations or states of consciousness are present, they constitute a factor in the process, since they enable an organism to modify or change its stimuli. The position of each of these schools on each of the questions to which reference has been made, may be placed in opposition as follows : 1. Variations appear in defi- nite directions. 2. Variations are caused by the interaction of the organic being and its environment. 3. Acquired variations be inherited. may 4. Variations survive directly % i. Variations are promiscu- ous or multifarious. 2. Variations are "congeni- tal " or are caused by mingling of male and female germ-plas- mas. 3. Acquired variations cannot be inherited. 4. Variations survive directly as they are adapted to changing as they are adapted to changing environments, tion.) (Natural selec- environments. tion.) (Natural selec- 14 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. 5. Movements of the organ- ism are caused or directed by sensation and other conscious states. 6. Habitual movements are derived from conscious experi- ence. 7. The rational mind is de- veloped by experience, through memory and classification. 5. Movements of organism are not caused by sensation or conscious states, but are a sur- vival through natural selection from multifarious movements. 6. Habitual movements are produced by natural selection. 7. The rational mind is de- veloped by natural selection from multifarious mental activ- ities. It is not the object of the present book to present all the available evidence on both sides of each of the ques- tions above enumerated. I propose merely to submit certain facts, in support of the doctrines contained in the left-hand column of the above table. My aim will be to show in the first place, that variations of charac- ter are the effect of physical causes ; and second, that such variations are inherited. The facts adduced in support of these propositions will be necessarily prin- cipally drawn from my own studies in the anatomy, ontology, and paleontology of the Vertebrata. It will be my aim, moreover, to co-ordinate the facts of evo- lution with those of systematic biology, so that the re- sult may be as clearly presented as possible. The fail- ure to do this by the founders of evolutionary doctrine has given their work a lack of precision, which has been felt by systematic biologists. The detailed ap- plication of the principles of Lamarck and Darwin has been the work of their successors, and has necessarily thrown much new light on the principles themselves. In pursuing the object above stated, I shall be obliged INTR OD UC TION. 1 5 to consider briefly in the following pages, the validity of the general propositions on which the doctrine of evolution rests. Less space will be given, however, to those which are less relevant, than to those which are more relevant to the doctrine of neo-Lamarckism. PART I. THE NATURE OF VARIATION. PRELIMINARY. r I AHE structural relations of organisms may be ex- -L pressed in the following canons : l 1. Ho mo logy.- -This means that organic beings are composed of corresponding parts ; that the variations of an original and fixed number of elements constitute their only differences. A part large in one animal may be small in another, or vice versa ; or complex in one and simple in another. The analysis of animals with skeletons, or Vertebrata, has yielded several hundred original elements, out of which the twenty-eight thou- sand included species are constructed. The study of homologies is thus an extended one, and is far from complete at the present day. 2. Successional Relation.- -rT\u& expresses the fact that species naturally arrange themselves into series in consequence of an order of excess and deficiency in some feature or features. Thus species with three toes naturally intervene between those with one and four toes. So with the number of chambers of the heart, of segments of the body, the skeleton, etc. There are greater series and lesser or included series, and mis- takes are easily made by taking the one for the other. 1 Origin of the Fittest, p. 6. The laws here stated are as expressive of the relations of plants as of animals. 20 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. 3. Parallelism. — This states that all organisms in their embryonic and later growth pass through stages which recapitulate the successive permanent condi- tions of their ancestry. Hence those which traverse fewer stages resemble or are parallel with the young of those which traverse more numerous stages. This is the broad statement, and is qualified by the details. 4. Teleology.- -This is the law of fitness of structures for their special uses, and it expresses broadly the general adaptations of an animal to its home and habits. The first and fourth of the laws above enumerated are taken for granted as generally accepted, and are not especially considered in the following pages. The second law, that of successional relation, is discussed and illustrated under the two heads of Variation and Phylogeny; the first expressing contemporary relations, and the second, successive relations in time. The third law, or that of parallelism, is considered in a chapter devoted to that subject. CHAPTER I— ON VARIATION. PRELIMINARY. \ LL species are not equally variable. Some species JL\. vary little or not at all, even under domestication. Thus the varieties of the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) and the guinea-fowl {Numida meleagris} are few, and are confined to albinistic or melanistic conditions. The barnyard fowl (Gallus ^/.), on the other hand, varies enormously, as does also the pigeon (Columba livid}. Among domesticated Mammalia the variations of cats (Felis domes tied] are few as compared with those of dogs (Cam's sp.). Variability is not peculiar to do- mesticated animals. A large proportion of animals and plants are, in a state of nature, variable, and some of these are much more so than others. The common garter-snake (Eut&niasirtalis} varies exceedingly, while the variations of the allied ribband snake (Eutcenia sauritd) are minute or none. But little variation has been observed in the polar bear {Ursits maritimus}, while the common bear (U. arctos} presents many vari- eties. Similar conditions are found among fishes. Thus the larger species of pike, the muskallonge {Lucius nobi- 1101'}, the pike (Z. estor}, and the pickerel (Z. vermicu- latus) are constant in their characters, while the small pickerel (Z. vermiculatus} presents numerous varieties. 22 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. Many of the varieties of the animals referred to in- habit the same territory, although some are restricted to particular regions. Of geographical varieties or races much is known. As a rule, all widely distributed species present them. Examples are the brown bear of the Northern Hemisphere (Ursus arctos}\ the cobra di capello snake of the warmer parts of Asia (Naja tripu- dians}, and that of Africa (Naja haje). In North Amer- ica the king-snake (Ophibolus getuhis} and the milk- snake {Osceola doliatd} are represented by distinct races in different regions. On the other hand, the copperhead {Ancistrodon contortrix} and the Eastern rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus}, which have a wide range, scarcely vary at all. The chub {Hybopsis bigut- tatus} is an example of a fish distributed everywhere east of the Rocky Mountains, which presents scarcely any variation. Variations are not promiscuous or multifarious, but are of certain definite kinds or in certain directions. Thus amid all their varieties, dogs never present black cross-bands on the back like those of the dog-opossum (Thylacinus cynocephalus} of Tasmania, nor do they present ocellated spots like those of the leopard, nor longitudinal stripes like those of certain squirrels. The same is true of the many varieties of cattle {Bos tau- rus}, and of numerous other mammalia. Domestic fowls never vary to blue or green, colors which are common to many other birds ; nor are canaries known to produce blue or red natural sports. All variations are in the first place necessarily restricted by the ex- isting characters of the ancestor; but beyond this it is evident that other conditions determine the nature of the variation. It is not supposable, for instance, that the pale tints of animals which live in dry regions ON VARIATION. 23 originated by an accident or without a determining cause. The increased amount of dark pigment ob- served in animals which dwell in especially humid re- gions must have a corresponding cause, and it is nat- urally to be supposed, of a kind the opposite of that which produces the pale colors. I shall adduce some illustrations which show that color variations in species, as well as structural varia- tions in higher groups, have appeared in certain defi- nite series, and observe a successional relation to each other, which may or may not coincide with geograph- ical conditions. The same relation is observed in the order of appearance of variations on the body. Eimer and Weismann have shown that the grad- ual modification of color markings has originated in lizards and in caterpillars at the posterior end of the body and has gradually extended forwards. This has been discovered both by comparisons of the variations of the adults, and by studies of the order of their appear- ance in ontogenetic growth. Eimer shows that longi- tudinal bands have been produced in some animals by the confluence of spots placed in transverse series, which themselves are the remains of interrupted trans- verse bands. Thus he believes that the spots of the leopard group of the large cats were derived from the breaking up of transverse bands of the character of those now possessed by the tiger. The uniform colo- ration of the lion is the result of the obliteration of the spots. Traces of these spots may be distinctly seen in lions' cubs. In plants variation is said to be equally definite by Henslow. He says : "In 1847 Professor J. Buckman sowed the seed of the wild parsnip in the garden of the Agricultural College at Cirencester. The seeds 24 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. began to vary, but in the same way, though in differ- ent degrees. By selecting seed from the best rooted plants the acquired ' somatic' characters of an en- larged root, glabrous leaves, etc. , became fixed and hereditary; and the 'Student,' as he called it, having been * improved ' by Messrs. Sutton and Sons, is still regarded as 'the best in the trade.' This is definite variation, according to Darwin's definition, for those weeded out did not differ from the selected, morpho- logically, except in degree, the variations towards im- provement not being quite fast enough to entitle them to survive.'3 Finally I wish especially to point out that variation in animals, and probably in plants, (with which I am not so familiar,) gives no ground for believing that "sports " have any considerable influence on the course of evolution. This is apparent whether we view the serial lines of variations of specific, generic, or higher characters ; or whether we trace the phylogeny of the animal and vegetable types by means of the paleonto- logical record. The method of evolution has appar- ently been one of successional increment or decrement of parts along definite lines. More or less abruptness in some of the steps of this succession there may have been ; since a definite amount of energy expended in a given direction at a given point of history might pro- duce a much greater effect than the same amount ex- pended at some other period or point of evolution. This might be due to the release of stored energy, which could only be accomplished by a coincidence of circumstances. A simple illustration of the phenome- non of abrupt metamorphosis is to be found in the passage of matter from the gaseous to the liquid, and ON VARIATION*. 25 from the liquid to the solid state. I have stated the case in the following language:1 "As one or more periods in the life of every spe- cies is characterized by a greater rapidity of develop- ment" (ontogenetic) "than the remainder ; so in pro- portion to the approximation of such a period to the epoch of maturity or reproduction is the offspring liable to variation. During the periods corresponding to those between the rapid metamorphoses, the char- acters of the genus would be preserved unaltered, though the period of change would be ever approach- ing. Hence the transformation of genera may have been rapid and abrupt, and the intervening periods of persistency very long. Thus, while change is really progressing, the external features remain unchanged at other than those points, which may be called ex- pression points. Now the expression point of a new gen- eric type is reached when its appearance in the adult falls so far prior to the period of reproduction as to transmit it to the offspring and their descendants." i. VARIATIONS OF SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. a. Variations in the Coleopterous Genus Cicindela. Dr. George H. Horn has traced the variations in the color patterns of the elytra of the North American species of this abundant and well-known genus. He shows that they form series, in the following language :2 "Any one in glancing over this series will perceive that there is a great similarity of marking between many species. This similarity, which may be con- sidered as the type of marking, and is illustrated by 1 Origin of the Fittest, p. 79. 2 Entomological News, Philadelphia, Feb., 1892, p. 25. 26 PRIM A RY FAC TORS OF OR GA tfIC E VOL UTION~. No. i of the accompanying plate (Fig. i) is the under- lying pattern from which all the forms observed in our Cicindela have been derived. "Before going further it is well to present the fol- lowing propositions that the argument and the illus- trations may be understood. "i. The type of marking is the same in all our spe- cies. "2. Assuming a well-marked species as a central type the markings vary, a, by a progressive spreading of the white, ^, by a gradual thinning or absorption of the white, 0 -t W W ff *§' S"8 CD ,-! r-t- Cg W 0 w "g .5' So H £• ° p « C ~ ^3 . . o g ^ ^ § forming crossbars. . Dark spots confluent o o* l-t Dark interspaces divi Dark interspaces pale Longitudinally striped PJ CD 33 rt- CU u) 2 nT CD P d« O cr -id 3 <-"• p v; 3 «- •j. cr CD cr d. ^ -t P — CD ^ & o '-i zr. nr: •£ JT O CfQ CO CD crq' P 5 ? £ ^ r-f- •^ ^ -^ ^ n fi •^ ? 3 t-> ^ ^ it ?t C ~ ^- 5: to <% V> 5 f?1 t^ 1 8 1 1 | ? to * 5 ^ ^ 8 g 55 ??" 5 to ^ _to •2" 1 ^ > a to * •^ ^5 £ &to C ? S S k to to &Q § 1 ^ - 2. :> » - ^ ^ s 5 <\ a ^ Ni »st ^ c alar is | 1 a • ?• ^ >q <*> 05 .^ r> ^ ^ 1 a S K^^ W ^ i^ "^ 3. h ^ N FN T ^ a ^ c^ ^1 .^* . 5- ' ' .*• 1 s s. "^ Oq' ^. 5- ^. * *V« s a a a ts -s r^ • t«S ^>^. ^- ^** • rsi a S' *s*. -> | 1 ^, 5" ^» • S ?' *"*» . to' \ 1 ON VARIATION. 47 ample material at his disposal. Following lines al- ready laid down by Prof. Spencer F. Baird, Dr. Allen has shown that variations in form, size, and color are directly related to latitude, and that they are not pro- miscuous or multifarious, but are definite and graded. I make the following extract from a summary of the subject published by him in The Radical Review (New Bedford, Mass.) for May, 1877: "Geographical variation, as exhibited by the mam- mals and birds of North America, may be summarized under the following heads, namely : (i) variation in general size, (2) in the size of peripheral parts, and (3) in color; the latter being subdivisible into (V) vari- ation in color with latitude, and (£) with longitude. As a rule, the mammals and birds of North America increase in size from the south northward. This is true, not only of the individual representatives of each species, but generally the largest species of each genus and family are northern. There are, however, some strongly marked exceptions, in which the increase in size is in the opposite direction, or southward. There is for this an obvious explanation, as will be presently shown ; the increase being found to be almost invari- ably toward the region where the type or group to which the species belongs receives its greatest numer- ical development, and where the species are also most specialized. Hence the representatives of a given spe- cies increase in size toward its hypothetical center of distribution, which is in most cases doubtless also its original center of dispersal. Consequently there is fre- quently a double decadence in size within specific groups, and both in size, and numerically in the case of species, when the center of development of the group to which they belong is in the warm-temperate or trop- 48 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. ical regions. This may be illustrated by reference to the distribution of the higher classes of vertebrates in North America. Among the species occurring north of Mexico there are very few that may not be supposed to have had a northern origin ; and the fact that some are circumpolar in their distribution, while most of the others (especially among the mammals) have congeneric Old World allies further strengthens the theory of their northern origin. Not only do individuals of the same species increase in size toward the north, but the same is true of the species of different genera. Again, in the exceptional cases of increase in size southward, the species belong to southern types, or, more correctly, to types having their center of development within or near the intertropical regions, where occur, not only the greatest number of the specific representatives of the type, but also the largest. "For more detailed illustration we may take three families of the North American Carnivora ; namely, the Canidae (wolves and foxes), the Felidae (lynxes and wild cats), and the Procyonidae (raccoons). The first two are to some extent cosmopolitan, while the third is strictly American. The Canidae have their largest specific representatives, the world over, in the temperate or colder latitudes. In North America the family is represented by six species,1 the smallest of which (speaking generally) are southern, and the larg- est northern. Four of them are among the most widely distributed of North American mammals, two (the gray wolf and the common fox) being circumpolar spe- cies ; another (the Arctic fox) is also circumpolar, but IThe gray wolf (Cam's lupus], the coyote (C. latrans), the Arctic fox (Vul- pes lagopus} , the common fox (V. alopex], the kit fox (V. velox], and the gray fox {V. cinereoargentatus}. ON VARIATION. 49 is confined to high latitudes. The three widest-rang- ing species (the gray wolf, the common fox, and the gray fox) are those which present the most marked variation in size. Taking the skull as the basis of comparison, it is found that the common wolf is fully one-fifth larger in the northern parts of British Amer- ica and Alaska than it is in Northern Mexico, where it finds the southern limit of its habitat. Between the largest northern skull and the largest southern skull there is a difference of about thirty-five per cent, of the mean size! Specimens from the intermediate region show a gradual intergradation between these extremes, although many of the examples from the upper Mis- souri country are nearly as large as those from the ex- treme North. "The common fox, though occurring as far north as the wolf, is much more restricted in its southward range, especially along the Atlantic coast, and presents a correspondingly smaller amount of variation in size. The Alaskan animal, however, averages about one- tenth larger than the average size of specimens from New England. In the gray fox, whose habitat ex- tends from Pennsylvania southward to Yucatan, the average length of the skull decreases from about five inches in Pennsylvania to considerably less than four in Central America — a difference equal to about thirty per cent, of the mean size for the species. "The Felidae, unlike the Canidae, reach their great- est development, as respects both the number and the size of the species, in the intertropical regions. This family has but a single typical representative— the panther (Fells concolor) — north of Mexico, and this ranges only to about the northern boundary of the United States. The other North American represen- 50 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. tatives of the family are the lynxes, which, in some of their varieties, range from Alaska to Mexico. They form, however, the most northern, as well as the most specialized or ' aberrant/ type of the family. While they vary greatly in color, as well as in the length and texture of the pelage, at different localities, they afford a most remarkable exception to all laws of variation in size with locality; for a large series of skulls, repre- senting localities as widely separated as Louisiana, Northern Mexico, and California, on the one hand, and Alaska and the Mackenzie River district on the other, as well as various intermediate localities, reveals no ap- preciable difference in size throughout this wide area. The true cats, however, as the panther and the ocelots, are found to greatly increase in size southward, or to- ward the metropolis of the family. The panther ranges from the Northern States southward over most of South America. Skulls from the Adirondack region of New York have an average length of about seven and a half inches, the length increasing to eight and three- quarters in Louisiana and Texas, from beyond which points there is lack of data. The ocelot (Felis parda- lis} finds its northern limit near the Rio Grande of Texas, and ranges thence southward far into South America. The average size of Costa Rican examples is about one-fifth greater than that of specimens from the Rio Grande. Instances of increase in size northward among the Carnivora of North America are so generally the rule that further space need not be taken in recounting ex- amples in detail. It may suffice to state that the badger {Taxidea americana), the marten (Mustela ame- ricana), the fisher (M. pennant '/), the wolverine (Gulo luscus^, and the ermine (JPu-torius erminens} — all north- ON VARIATION. 51 ern types — afford examples of variations in size strictly parallel with that already noticed as occurring in the foxes and wolves. "To refer briefly to other groups, it may be stated that the Cervidae (deer family) are mainly rather north- ern in their distribution; that the largest species occur in the colder zones, and that individuals of the same species increase rapidly in size toward the north. Some of the species, in fact, afford some of the most striking instances of northward increase in size ; among which are the Virginia deer and its several representa- tives in the interior of the continent and on the Pacific Slope. It is also noteworthy that the most obviously distinctive characteristic of the group — the large, an- nually deciduous antlers — reaches its greatest devel- opment at the northward. Thus all the northern spe- cies, as the moose, the elk, and the caribou, have branching antlers of immense size, while the antlers are relatively much smaller in the species inhabiting the middle region of the continent, and are reduced to a rudimentary condition — a simple, slender, sharp spike, or a small and singly forked one — in the tropical spe- cies; the antlers declining in size much more rapidly than the general size of the animal. This is true in individuals of the same species as well as of the species collectively. "The Glires (the squirrels, marmots, spermophiles mice, and their affines) offer the same illustrations in respect to the law of increase in size as the species already mentioned, the size sometimes increasing to the southward, but more generally to the northward, since the greater number of the species belong decid- edly to northern types. There is no more striking in- stance known among mammals of variation in size 52 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. with locality than that afforded by the flying squirrels, in which the northern race is more than one-half larger than the southern ; yet the two extremes are found to pass so gradually the one into the other, that it is hardly possible to define even a southern and a north- ern geographical race, except on the almost wholly arbitrary ground of difference in size. The species, moreover, is one of the most widely distributed, rang- ing from the Arctic regions (the northern limit of for- ests) to Central America. ' 'Among birds the local differences in size are al- most as strongly marked as among mammals, and in the main, follow the same general law. A decided increase in size southward, however, or toward the warmer latitudes, occurs more rarely than in mam- mals, although several well-marked instances are known. The increase is generally northward, and is often very strongly marked. The greatest difference between northern and southern races occurs, as in mammals, in the species whose breeding-stations em- brace a wide range of latitude. In species which breed from Northern New England to Florida, the southern forms are not only smaller, but are also quite different in color and in other features. This is eminently the case in the common quail (Ortyx virginianus}, the meadow- lark (Sturnella magna], the purple grackle (Quiscalus purpureus), the red- winged blackbird (Age- laeus phaeniceus), the golden- winged woodpecker (Co- laptes auratus}, the towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), the Carolina dove (Zencediira macrura), and in nu- merous other species ; and is quite appreciable in the blue- jay (Cyanurus cristatus}, the crow (Corvus ameri- cantts), in most of the woodpeckers, in the titmice, numerous sparrows, and several thrushes and war- ON VARIATION. 53 biers, the variation often amounting to from ten to fifteen per cent, of the average size of the species. "As a general rule, certain parts of the organisms vary more than does general size, there being a marked tendency to enlargement of peripheral parts under high temperature, or toward the tropics, — hence south- ward in North America. This is more readily seen in birds than in mammals, in consequence, mainly, of their peculiar type of structure. In mammals it is manifested occasionally in the size of the ears and feet, and in the horns of bovines, but especially and more generally in the pelage. At the northward, in individ- uals t)f the same species, the hairs are longer and softer, the under fur more abundant, and the ears and the soles of the feet better clothed. This is not only true of individuals of the same species, but of northern species collectively as compared with their nearest southern allies. Southern individuals retain perma- nently, in many cases, the sparsely clothed ears and the naked soles that characterize northern individuals only in summer, as is notably the case among the dif- ferent squirrels and sphermophiles. "In mammals which have the external ear largely developed — as in the wolves, foxes, some of the deer, and especially the hares, — the larger size of this organ in southern as compared with northern individuals of the same species is often strikingly apparent. It is more especially marked, however, in species inhabit- ing extensive open plains and semi-desert regions. The little wood hare, or gray rabbit {Lepus sylvaticus}, affords a case in point. This species is represented, in some of its varieties, across the whole breadth of the continent, and from the northern border of the United States southward to Central America, but in 54 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. different regions by geographical races or subspecies. In addition to certain differences of color and general size, the ears vary still more strongly. In the form inhabiting the Great Plains, commonly known as the little sage-brush hare (L. sylvaticus nuttalli^, the ears are considerably longer than in the eastern variety, and increase in size from the north southward, reach- ing their greatest development in Western Arizona and the desert region further westward and southward, where the variety is characterized mainly by the large size of its ears, which are in this race nearly twice the size they attain in the eastern variety. In the long- eared 'jackass' hares of the plains, the ear likewise increases in size to the southward. In Lepus callotis, for example, which ranges from Wyoming southward far into Mexico, the ear is about one-fourth to one- third larger in the southern examples than In the north- ern. The little brown hare of the Pacific Coast (Z. trowbridgei*} presents a similar increase in the size of the ear southward, as does, to a less extent, the prairie hare (Z. campestris}. Not only are all of the long- eared species of American hares confined to the open plains of the arid interior of the continent, but over this same region is the tendency to an enlargement of the ear southward stronger than elsewhere. It is also of interest in this connection that the largest-eared hares of the Old World occur over similar open, half- desert regions, as do also the largest-eared foxes. On our western plains, the deer are represented by a large- eared species. Among the domestic races of cattle, those of the warm temperate and intertropical regions have much larger and longer horns than those of north- ern countries ; as is shown by a comparison of the Texan, Mexican, and South American breeds, with ON VARIATION. 55 the northern stock, or those of the South of Europe with the more northern races. In the wild species of the Old World, the southern or sub-tropical are re- markable for the large size of their horns. The horns of the American prong-horn (Antilocapra americana) are also much larger at southern than at northern locali- ties.1 Naturalists have also recorded the existence of larger feet in many of the smaller North American Mammalia at the southward than at the northward, among individuals of the same species, especially among the wild mice, in some of the squirrels, the opossum and raccoon, as well as in other species. "In birds, the enlargement of peripheral parts, es- pecially of the bill, claws, and tail, is far more obvious and more general than in mammals. The bill is par- ticularly susceptible to variation in this regard, — in many instances being very much larger, among indi- viduals of unquestionably the same species, at the southward than at the northward. This accords with the general fact that all the ornithic types in which the bill is remarkably enlarged occur in the intertropical regions. The southward enlargement of the bill within specific groups may be illustrated by reference to al- most any group of North American birds, or to those of any portion of the continent. As in other features of geographical variation, the greatest differences in the size of the bill are met with among species having the widest distribution in latitude. Among the species inhabiting eastern North America we find several strik- IThe deer tribe, in which the antlers increase in size toward the north, offer an apparent exception to the rule of increase in size of peripheral parts toward the tropics. The antlers of the deer, however, are merely seasonal appendages, being annually cast and renewed, and are thus entirely different physiologically from the horns of bovines, which retain a high degree of vitality throughout the life of the animal. 56 PRIM. IRY FA CTORS OF OR CAN 1C E VOL UTIOtf. ing examples of this enlargement among the sparrows, black-birds, thrushes, crows, wrens, and warblers, in the quail, the meadow-lark, the golden-winged wood- pecker, etc. Generally the bill, in the slender-billed forms, becomes longer, more attenuated, and more de- curved (in individuals specifically the same) in pass- ing from the New England States southward to Flo- rida, while in those which have a short, thick, conical bill there is a general increase in its size so that the southern representatives of a species, as a rule, have thicker and longer bills than their northern relatives, though the birds themselves are smaller. There is thus not only generally a relative, but often an abso- lute, increase in the size of the bill in the southern races. The species of the Pacific Coast and of the in- terior afford similar illustrations, in some cases more marked even than in any of the eastern species. More rarely, but still quite frequently, is there a similar in- crease in the size of the feet and claws. "The tail, also, affords an equally striking exam- ple of the enlargement of peripheral parts southward. Referring again to the birds of the Atlantic Coast, many of the above-named species have the tail abso- lutely longer at southern localities than at northern, and quite often relatively longer. Thus while the gen- eral size decreases, the length of the tail is wholly maintained, or decreases less than the general size ; but, in some cases, while the general size is one-tenth or more smaller at the south, the tail is ten to fifteen per cent, longer than in the larger northern birds. Some western species are even more remarkable in this respect ; and in consequence mainly of this fact the southern types have been varietally separated from the shorter-tailed northern forms of the same species. ON VARIATION, 57 "Variations in color with locality are still more ob- vious, particularly among birds, in which the colors are more positive, the contrasts of tints greater, and the markings consequently better defined than is usu- ally the case in mammals. The soft finely-divided covering of the latter is poorly fitted for the display of the delicate pencilings and the lustrous, prismatic hues that so often characterize birds. Mammals, how- ever, present many striking instances of geographical variation in color. "As already stated, geographical variations in color may be conveniently considered under two heads. While the variation with latitude consists mainly in a nearly uniform increase in one direction, the variation observed in passing from the Atlantic Coast westward is more complex. In either case, however, the varia- tion results primarily from nearly the same causes, which are obviously climatic, and depend mainly upon the relative humidity, or the hygrometric conditions of the different climatal areas of the continent. In re- spect to the first, or latitudinal variation, the tendency is always toward an increase in intensity of coloration southward. Not only do the primary colors become deepened in this direction, but dusky and blackish tints become stronger or more intense, iridescent hues become more lustrous, and dark markings, as spots and streaks or transverse bars, acquire greater area. Conversely, white or light markings become more re- stricted. In passing westward a general and gradual blanching of the colors is met with on leaving the wooded regions east of the Mississippi, the loss of color increasing with the increasing aridity of the cli- mate and the absence of forests, the greatest pallor occurring over the almost rainless and semi-desert re- 58 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. gions of the Great Basin and Colorado Desert. On the Pacific Slope, north of California, the color again increases, with a tendency to heavy, sombre tints over the rainy, heavily-wooded region of the Northwest Coast."1 2. VARIATION IN STRUCTURAL CHARACTERS. Modifications of structural characters may appear quite independently of variation of specific ones. In- deed, generic characters have at times changed completely without the appearance of corresponding changes in the more superficial characters which de- fine the species. Thus changes in the dentition of some of the Mammalia appear within the limits of species, which, should they become permanent, would entitle the two sets of individuals which display the different dentitions to be placed in different genera. Some striking examples of how generic characters may undergo metamorphosis without corresponding changes in specific characters, have been brought to light by Dr. William H. Dall among the Brachiopo- dous Mollusca. Some of the species of different gen- era can scarcely be distinguished, except by compari- son of their generic characters. I have cited the axolotls as illustrative of this phenomenon. Here the same species may reproduce as a permanent larva, or as an adult. Dume'ril has shown that the North Amer- ' ican salamander (Amblystoma tigriumn} can lay and fertilize eggs before the metamorphosis is passed, have since observed that the females of the allied spe- cies of Amblystomidse, the Chondrotus tenebrosus B. and G., of California contain mature eggs ready for de- 1 The Radical Review, May, 1877. ON VARIATION. 59 posit, and have supposed that this species has also the same power.1 The difference between such larvae and the adult which has passed the metamorphosis is great. It extends not merely to the branchial processes, but to the splenial teeth, which are shed, and to the palato- pterygoid arch, which is absorbed, and to the pos- terior ceratobranchial and epibranchial cartilages, which are absorbed. In the larva of the C. tenebrosus the palatopterygoid arches and epibranchials are ossified, so that the probability of its being able to maintain an independent existence as a larva is greater than in the case of the A. tigrinuui. In this type, then, each spe- cies displays variations concomitant with reproductive maturity, which are not only of generic, but of family significance. In a third species, the Siredon mexica- ;////;/, no metamorphosis has yet been shown to take place, so that it is probable that it reproduces ordina- rily while in the branchiferous stage. Yet it is only specifically different from the larva of the Amblystoma tigrininn. Excellent illustrations of the serial appearance of generic characters may be seen in the family of the dogs (Canidae). In the true genus Canis, the dental formula is, I. -f ; C. i; P. m. J; M. -|. The inferior sec- torial (m. i) has a metaconid, and the second inferior true molar has two roots. It not unfrequently hap- pens, however, that the last inferior molar (m. 3) is wanting ; and in some cases the inferior m. 2 has but one root. When in addition to this, as in some of the black-and-tans, in the Mexican naked dog, and in the pug, the inferior m. i loses its metaconid, we have the genus Synagodus. Occasionally the pug dog, and fre- quently the Mexican dog, loses one of its premolars IBatrachia of North America, 1888, p. 113, PI. xxii, xxiii. 60 PRIMAR Y FA CTORS OF ORGANIC E VOL UTION. from both jaws. The Japanese spaniel goes still fur- ther, and usually loses also its second superior true molar and frequently another premolar from each jaw; and we then have a dentition which indicates a third genus, which has been called Dysodus. Its dental formula is I. f ; C. J- ; P. m. f -f ; m. ^. Transitions between this and the normal dentition of Canis, in all respects can be found in the smaller domesticated dogs. And these modifications are not pathological, but simply express a rapid metamorphosis of the den- tition towards the reduced formula which is charac- teristic of the cats. And while the most characteristic dentitions belong to particular species (or races) of dogs, many of the single modifications are both absent and present in dogs of the same species or race. And these are the kind of characters which are observed to mark the slow progress during long geologic ages, of mammals of various other groups. These modifications are not promiscuous, but are in the di- rect line of change which has characterized all Mam- malia during geologic time; i. e., the reduction of the numbers of the molar teeth. And in greater detail, the loss of metaconid of the inferior sectorial, and loss of posterior true molars, are the exact losses which the carnivorous type has undergone in the evolution of the cats. A significant modification of the third superior pre- molar has been observed by Dr. Horace Jayne to be occasionally met with in the domestic cat. Sometimes an internal cusp (deuterocone), with a corresponding root is developed, giving rise to a tritubercular crown. Similar observations have been made on the denti- tion of man, which presents two phenomena of varia- tion of opposite phylogenetic significance. I have ON VARIATION. 61 shown1 that most of the Indo-European race, together with the Esquimaux, present a reversion to a lemu- rine form in the second and third superior molars, and sometimes, in the case of the Esquimaux, in the first superior molar also. I have also shown,2 after a study of the dentition of the extinct Mammalia, that the more complex molars of later placental orders, have been derived from a tritubercular type, which prevailed throughout the earth just before the opening of the Eocene period. In the line of human and quadruma- nous phylogeny, the lemurs of the Eocene period pre- sented this type of molar in the upper jaw, and mostly continue to do so to the present time. The true mon- keys, however, added the fourth tubercle or hypocone, in accordance with the developmental law in Mamma- lia generally, and the apes and men of the lower races present the same characteristic. Now, in the yellow race the hypocone of the last molar is generally want- ing, while in the white race it is usual to find it absent from both the second and third molars. In this we have a case of reversion. The reduction of the third (last) superior molar, and of the inferior as well, has gone further in the white race, since the tooth is frequently abnormally small, abortive, or totally wanting. The external su- perior incisor has a similar history, although its reduc- tion and loss is not nearly so frequent as that of the last molars. These losses from the dental series are not of the nature of reversions, since the number of teeth is more and more numerous as we recede in time along the line of human ancestry. It is, on the contrary, the continuation of a process which has been, 1 American Journal of Morphology, 1888, p. 7. % American Naturalist, 1884, p. 350 ; Origin of the Fittest, 1887, p. 347. 62 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. as already remarked, common to all the Mammalia, of reduction in the number of teeth. Thus men with fewer teeth are more advanced than those with more numer- ous ones ; while people with tritubercular superior molars have reverted to an ancient type ; and both re- sults are probably attained by the same physiologic process, i. e. defect of nutrition. It is to be remem- bered also, in connection with our argument, that these dental variations are modifications of generic charac- ters, and that they are in definite directions, and are not promiscuous. With regard to the question as to whether dental variations in man are promiscuous or not, we have better opportunities of investigation than in the case of the lower animals generally. It may be safely asserted that the dental variations above cited are by far the most frequent in man, and that all others put together are relatively insignificant. 3. SUCCESSIONAL RELATION. As the biologic types are variations become perma- nent, it is important to examine how the former stand related to each other. These relations express the direction which variation has taken, and throw a great deal of light on the nature of the process. That exist- ing types of all grades are the result of the isolation of variations of species, is shown by the frequent exam- ples of incomplete isolation, which follows inconstancy of the definitive characters. Groups of individuals which display this partial isolation are termed sub- species. As an illustration of the mingling of isolated groups of individuals (species) with imperfectly isolated groups (subspecies), in a single genus, I refer to the American ON VARIATION. 63 garter-snake (genus Eutaenia B. and G.). An exami- nation of several hundred individuals of this genus yielded the following results : I found seventeen groups of individuals, which could be said to be completely isolated in characters, with very few exceptions. Eight other groups (species) are probably isolated, but they are not represented by a sufficiently large number of specimens to yield a satisfactory demonstration. Of the seventeen, four species embrace fifteen non-isolated geographical forms (subspecies), besides the typical forms (eight of which are included under the E. sirta- lis)'} and two others include three color forms easily recognizable, besides the typical ones. Similar phe- nomena are presented in every part of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. One of the most instructive natural divisions for the study of taxonomic relations as the result of varia- tion, on account of the simplicity of the relations pre- sented, is the Batrachia Salientia, or the order of Ba trachia to which belong the toads, frogs, etc. Omitting the very restricted suborders of the Aglossa and Gas- trechmia, the Batrachia Salientia fall into two divi- sions, which differ only in the structure of the lower portion of their scapular arch, or shoulder-girdle. In the one the opposite halves are capable of movements which contract or expand the capacity of the thorax ; in the other the opposite halves abut against each other so as to be incapable of movement, thus pre- serving the size of the thoracic cavity. But during the early stages, the frogs of this division have the mova- ble shoulder-girdle which characterizes those of the other division, the consolidation constituting a modifi- cation superadded in attaining maturity. Further- more, young Sa/ientia are toothless, and one section of 64 PRIMAR Y FA CTORS OF ORGANIC E VOL UT1ON. the species with embryonic shoulder-girdle never ac- quire teeth. The suborder with embryonic shoulder- girdle is called the Arcifera, and that which is ad- vanced in this respect is the Firmisternia. Now the frogs of each of these divisions present nearly similar scales of development of another part of the skeleton, viz., the bones of the top of the skull. We find some in which one of these bones (ethmoid) is represented Fig. 15. Fig. 17. Fig. 16. SHOULDER-GIRDLES OF "ANURA." Fig. 15. — Of the Arciferous type (Phyllomcdnsa bicolor}. Fig. 16, Rana temporaria, tadpole with budding limbs. Fig. 17, do., adult. Figs. 16 and 17 from Parker. by cartilage only, and the frontoparietals and nasals are represented by only a narrow strip of bone each. In the next type the ethmoid is ossified ; in the next, we have the frontoparietal completely ossified, and the nasals range from narrow strips to complete roofs ; in the fourth station on the line, these bones are rough, with a hyperostosis of their surfaces ; and in the next set of species this ossification fills the skin, which is thus no longer separable from the cranial bones ; in ON VARIATION. 65 the sixth form the ossification is extended so as to roof in the temporal muscles and inclose the orbits behind, while in the rare seventh and last stage, the tympanum is also inclosed behind by bone. Now all of these types are not found in all of the families of the Salien- tia, but the greater number of them are. Six principal families, four of which belong to the Arcifera, are named in the diagram below, and three or four others might have been added. I do not give the names of the genera which are defined as above described, re- ferring to the explanation of the cuts for them, but in- dicate them by the numbers attached in the plate, which correspond to those of the definitions above given. A zero mark signifies the absence or non-dis- covery of a generic type. Sternum embryonic. Arcifera. Sternum complete Toothless. Toothed. Firmisternia. Bufonidae. Scaphiopidse. Cystignathidae. Hylidae. Ranidae. 1- I o I 10 2- 22 2 2 O 3- 3 ° 333 4-44 444 5-55 055 6—6 6 6 66 7 — 70 o o o It is evident, from what has preceded, that a per- fecting of the shoulder-girdle in any of the species of the arciferous columns would place it in the series of Firmisternia. An accession of teeth in a species of the division Bufonidce would make it one of the Scaphiopidtz\ while a small amount of change in the ossification of the bones of the skull would transfer a species from one to another of the generic stations represented by the numbers of the columns from one to seven. Fig. 18. BUFONID^E. Fig. 19. SCAPHIOPID^ AND PELOBATIDjE. Fig. 20. Fig. 21. CYSTIGNATHID^. Fig. 22. 68 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION, That the above generic divisions have been actually developed from each other is demonstrated by the oc- currence of occasional intermediate forms. Thus no generic distinction can be maintained between types third and fourth in the family of toads (Bufonidae), so complete is the transition between them. In Hylidae and Cystignathidae occasional transitions between types second and third occur. In the Scaphiopidae the sub- species Spea hammondii intermontana sometimes has the frontoparietal fontanelle open, sometimes closed. I have seen some adult specimens of Rana virescens au- stricola from Central America with the ethmoid bone unossified above, as in the genus Ranula. The rugose cranium is only acquired in old age of some of the spe- cies of Polypedates of India. Yet these genera are as EXPLANATION OF CUTS OF CRANIA OF SALIENTIA. The numbers in each column correspond with the types of ossification mentioned in the text, and are the same as those in the table of families given in the same connection. The power numbers attached to No. 4, represent the degree of ossification of the nasal bone, except -1, which signifies unossified ethmoid. Most of the cuts are original Fig. 18. — BUFONID.E. — No. i, anterior part of skull of Chelydobatrachus goiddii Gray, from Australia. No. 4, do. of Schismaderma carens Smith, South Africa. No. 5, top of head of Peltaphrync peltacephala D. and B., Cuba. No. 7, top of head of Otaspis empusa Cope, Cuba. Fig. 19. — ScAPHiopiDvE AND PELOBATiD^:. — No. 2, diagram of top of cranium of Didocus calcaratus Micahelles, Spain. No. 5, skull of Scaphiopus holbrookii Harl., United States. No. 6, skull of Cultripes provinciates, from France, after Duges. Fig. 20. — HYLID.E. — No. i, Thoropa miliaris Spix., Brazil. No. 2, Hypsi- boas doumercii D. and B., Surinam. No. zl, Hypsiboas punctatus Schn., Brazil. No. 44, Scytopis vemdosus Daudin, Brazil. No. 5, Osteocephalus planiceps Cope, E. Peru. No. 6, Trachycephalns geographicus D. and B., after Steindachner. Fig. 21. — CYSTIGNATHID^E.— No. i, Eiisophus nebulosus Gir., Chili. No. 2, Borboroccetcs tasmaniensis Gthr., Tasmania. No. 3, Elosia nasus Licht., Bra- zil. No. 4, Hylodes oxyrhynchus D. and B., West Indies. No. 6, Calyptocepha- lus gayi D. and B., Chili. Fig. 22. — RANID^E. — No. 4- 1, Ranula chrysoprasina Cope, Costa Rica. No. 4!, Rana clauiata Daud., N. America. No. 42, Rana agilis Thomas, Europe. No. 48, Rana hexadactyla Less., India-. No. 5, Polypedates quadrilineatus D. and B., Ceylon. ON VARIATION. 69 well defined as closely allied genera in most natural divisions. It is seldom that so many stages of developmental series survive so as to be contemporaries, as in this case of the Batrachia Salientia. In order to obtain such series we usually have to explore the ages of the past. In the higher groups this is also the case, but here we have also occasional examples of the persis- tence of fairly complete series. Such a one is pre- sented by the suborder Artiodactyla of the Diplarth- rous Ungulate Mammalia. I give the definitions of the succession of the existing families. I. Molars bunodont (tubercular) ; superior incisors generally pres- ent. No cannon or naviculocuboid bones. Lateral toes well developed ; Hippopotamidce. Lateral toes rudimental ; Suidce. II. Molars selenodont (crescent-bearing). (Lateral toes rudimental or wanting). A. Premolars with one row of lobes. No naviculocuboid bone ; one superior incisor ; a can- non bone ; Camelidce. A naviculocuboid bone ; no superior incisor ; (cannon bone variable) ; Tragulidce. AA. Premolars with two rows of tubercles ; a naviculocuboid and cannon bones ; no incisors above. Premolar iii with only one row of lobes ; canine teeth, no horns ; l\Ioschid P *1 *™t o n> tm^ 3 cr — - a. o 2! c o' o 3 o' n cr o 3 iassic P en en o' CD P O o* o n 3 O> o o CD CD en' O O ft) o' o 3 nt . 8.8 0-3 PHYLOGENY. 79 riod, the greatest known development of the Pterido- phyta (Lycopodia, ferns, Equiseta) took place, while the Gymnosperms were still represented by a few gen- era. Their period of development or acme arrived in the Mesozoic ages, and the Pteridophyta underwent a corresponding reduction of numbers and importance. Not until the upper Cretaceous epoch did the Angio- spermous Phanerogams with their attractive flowers appear, and from that period to the present they have gained and maintained the ascendency. In accord- ance with the mode of origin of tubular flowers by the fusion of the separate petals of polypetalous forms, we find that the former succeeded the latter in time. We may review this brief sketch of the paleontol- ogy of plants in the preceding phylogenetic table. Turning now to the animal kingdom, its order of succession may also be perceived in existing species. As with plants we commence with unicellular asexual forms (Protozoa). Some of these increase by division only (Rhizopoda), while others must occasionally con- jugate, since, according to Maupas, the reproductive energy is exhausted by continued self-division (Infuso- ria). Such structural specializations as the highest of the Protozoa possess, are merely vacuities or processes of their material, for the purpose of internal or exter- nal motion. In the second grade of organization ani- mals are multicellular, or composed of more than one protoplasmic unit. The simplest of these, as Volvox, contains no specialized organs, but seems like a colony of Protozoa, although all its cells are not exactly alike (Ryder). An appreciable advance of structure de- fines the next class, the Coslenterata. Here the mul- ticellular mass contains a distinct digestive chamber, from which usually radiate tubes towards the periph- 8o PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. ery, which distribute the products of digestion. The first nervous threads appear. But there is as yet no body cavity which should form a sac in which the or- gans of nutrition and reproduction should be sus- pended. The Porifera (sponges) appear to be a much modified form of this type. This grade of specialization belongs to the greater number of the five succeeding classes, the Echinoder- mata, Vermes, Mollusca, Arthropoda, and Vertebrata. Where it is absent from a few of the three lower classes, it is supposed to have disappeared by degen- eracy. The Echinodermata come first in considera- tion. In these animals the form inclines to be radiated and the nervous system presents no single axis, but consists of branches which radiate from a ring sur- rounding the oral extremity of the digestive canal. In the second type, the general form is longitudinal and may be segmented, and a nervous axis may extend longitudinally from one or more points on the ceso- phageal ring. These are the Vermes (true worms). Embryology indicates clearly the common origin of the Echinodermata and the Vermes. No line of de- scent can be traced from the former, but from the lat- ter we have traced the remaining branches of animals, three in number. Lowest of these is the Mollusca. The form of the body is sac-like, and the nervous sys- tem displays, typically, besides the cesophageal ring, a second ring, consisting of lateral commissures, mak- ing a single median ganglion of the foot. The body is not segmented, and there are no jointed limbs. In the second branch, that of the Arthropoda, the body is longitudinal and segmented, and segmented limbs are present. There is a median nervous axis, proceed- ing from the cesophageal ring along the inferior axis PHYLOGENY. 81 of the body, connecting several ganglia, (with some exceptions where the ganglia are fused or wanting). There is no internal skeleton. In the last and highest branch, that of the Vertebrata, the body is longitudi- nal and is segmented. It has a longitudinal nervous axis on the superior middle line, which is supported below by an axis of resistant material, usually bone, which forms the axis of an internal skeleton. Seg- mented limbs are present. The lines of descent of these branches indicated by embryology are as follows : Vertebrata. Arthropoda. Mollusca. •». Echinoderma_ta. Porifera. 'ermes< Coelenterata. Catallacta. Protozoa. The above series present a history which is, on the whole, very different from that already described as characterizing the vegetable kingdom. Between the first and last terms of the series, there is exhibited a great progressive advance in all the higher features of life. These are mobility, and such control over the environment as it gives ; and sensibility, through the development of a nervous system, which gives control over the movements. The highest development is that of mental characteristics, as emotions and intelli- gence, which are especially seen in the higher Verte- brata, 82 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. This progress has not been accomplished without much degeneracy by the way. All of the branches display divisions which have become sessile, and some of them are almost altogether so. Among Coelenterata the Actinozoa are fixed, and often develop a calcareous skeleton. Many of the Hydroids are sessile. The great branch of the Echinodermata has its locomotive powers greatly curtailed, and many of them are per- manently sessile. The same is true of the Mollusca. Both divisions are at one side of the line of progres- sive evolution as a consequence of this tendency. The Vermes display in their free representatives the condi- tions of progressive evolution. Being longitudinal and bilateral, one extremity becomes differentiated by first contact with the environment, as the seat of spe- cial senses, the basis having been secured by the loca- tion there of the nervous centers and ring. The Ar- thropoda present us with a great development of locomotive organs, and of special senses. As a whole, they have not made a considerable advance into the possession of the higher animal mental capacities, but display various degeneracies or degenerate tendencies among themselves. The moderately specialized as to structure are the most intelligent. These are the Hy- menoptera, which display mental capacity superior to that of many Vertebrata. The latter branch, although presenting one sessile type, the Urochorda, has pro- duced in its highest class, the Mammalia, the most gen- eral elevation in this, the highest of animal functions. This intelligence is in most of the types expended in preserving themselves from destruction against hostile environments, and the conquest of nature thus effected is remarkable from a physical point of view, but is an end of no great elevation of purpose from a mental PHYLOGENY. 83 standpoint. It is only in the most intelligent of the Mammalia, and in man, that we behold social and in- tellectual qualities which express something more than a mere routine of material existence. Since Protozoa are very fragile, even when pos- sessed of shells of mineral salts, we cannot expect to discover the actual date of their first appearance on the earth. Nevertheless they have been recently dis- covered in the later Archaean (= = Huronian) beds of France. Some of the simplest Crelenterata, however, (the Actinozoa), have deposited lime salts in the septa of their digestive chambers, and in some instances over their entire surface, so that their preservation has been assured. Thus we can prove that the simplest coral animals appear in the oldest rocks of sedimentary ori- gin, the Cambric. Probably Vermes, and positively Echinodermata, Mollusca, and Arthropoda (Trilobita), also appear in the Cambric. Vertebrata appear defi- nitely in the Siluric ; their supposed appearance in the Ordovicic being very doubtful. The paleontologic history conforms to the syste- matic order in so far as it shows that the Ccelenterata appeared first, and the Vertebrata last, in time. A more complete correspondence between the two his- tories is found in the divisions of these branches, and I will take up the Vertebrata as the one of whose be- ginning we know the most, and are likely to know more. 2. THE PHYLOGENY OF THE VERTEBRATA. a. PJiylogeny of the Classes. As the illustrations of evolution in the present work are mainly drawn from the Vertebrata, I go somewhat into detail in discussing the phylogeny of that branch. 84 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. They present the advantage, that, since they appeared last of the animal kingdom in time, we can obtain a clearer view of their beginnings than in the case of the other great branches. Before going into the subject I wish to call atten- tion to a prevalent source of error in the construction of phylogenies. This is the confusion of ideas general among naturalists who are not at the same time com- petent systematists, as to the subordination of charac- ters. All correct phylogenetic inference depends on a correct appreciation of the value of characters. Fail- ing this, error and confusion result. If, for instance, it is alleged that such a genus is ancestral to another genus, it is often forgotten that the descent of generic character, and not specific character, is meant. The usual type of critic attempts to contradict such hy- pothesis by showing some incongruity in specific char- acters, a matter which is quite irrelevant to the issue. Thus Madame Pavlov finds that Hippotherium mediter- raneiim is not the ancestor of Equus caballus, and comes promptly to the conclusion that the genus Hippothe- rium is not ancestral to the genus Equus. This is a non sequitur, for there are perhaps twenty species of Hippotherium, some of which are almost certain to have been ancestral to species of American Equus. In like manner, if it is alleged that the condylarthrous Mammalia are ancestral to the Diplarthra, if it should happen that no known genus of the former fits exactly the position of ancestor to any genus of the latter, in our present state of knowledge, the contention is not thereby vitiated, and it is implied that such genus will certainly be found. If it is also alleged that Condy- larthra have been the ancestors of the anthropoid line, if some of the known genera of the former turn out to PHYLOGENY. 85 have no clavicle, a bone which is possessed by the latter, it is only to be concluded that the early lemur- oids were derived from Condylarthra which possessed a clavicle. And in the discussion of the descent of one order from another, care must be taken that fam- ily, generic, and even specific characters are not im- ported into the discussion. It is this confusion of ideas on the part of both phylogenists and their critics, that has brought phylo- genetic schemes into a discredit in some quarters, which is sometimes deserved and sometimes unde- served. Embryologists are especially apt to construct impossible phylogenies, as they are generally not sys- tematists, and frequently not anatomists. An excel- lent illustration of an impossible phylogeny is that of the fishes published a few years ago by the embryolo- gist Dr. Beard. As an illustration of clean-cut phy- logeny without confusion, I cite that of Haeckel ; which I have shown to be, as regards the Vertebrata, mainly correct. In attempting to ascertain the course of evolution of the Vertebrata, and to construct phylogenetic dia- grams which shall express this history, among the dif- ficulties arising from deficient information one is espe- cially prominent. As is well known, there are many types in all the orders of the Vertebrata which present us with rudimentary organs, as rudimental digits, feet or limbs, rudimental fins, teeth, and wings. There is scarcely an organ or part which is not somewhere in a rudimental and more or less useless condition. The difficulty which these cases present is, simply, whether they be persistent primitive conditions, to be regarded as ancestral types which have survived to the present time, or whether, on the other hand, they be results of 86 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. a process of degeneration, and therefore of compara- tively modern origin. The question, in brief, is, whether these creatures presenting these features be primitive ancestors or degenerate descendants. A great deal of light has been happily thrown on this question, as regards the Vertebrata, by the recent work done in North American paleontology. The lines of descent of many of the minor groups have been positively determined, and the phylogenetic connec- tions of most of the primary divisions or classes have been made out. The result of these investigations has been to prove that the evolution of the Vertebrata has proceeded not only on lines of acceleration, but also on lines of retardation. That is, that evolution has been not only progressive, but at times retrogressive. The Amphioxus (genus Branchiostoma) is generally regarded as the ancestral vertebrate. There are many reasons why this position must be accepted, although it possesses a few secondary modifications. Whether Branchiostoma derived its descent from an annelid worm, or from a tunicate, is a vexed question. Brooks1 remarks as to this, "Up to this point I believe that the ancestral history of the tunicates was identical with that of the vertebrates ; for the hepatic crecum, the dilated pharynx, the pharyngeal clefts, the hypophar- yngeal gland, and the peripharyngeal bands, have been inherited by all the Chordata (Vertebrata), and have impressed themselves so firmly in their organization that even the highest vertebrates still retain them, either as vestiges or as organs which have been fitted to new functions. I believe, however, that while they were acquired before the tunicates diverged from the chordate (vertebrate) stem, they were acquired by an "^•Studies from the Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University, 1893, p. 175. PHYLOGENY. 87 organism whose environment and habits of life were essentially like those of the modern Appendicularia.' Appendicularia is well known as the tunicate which retains throughout life, the notochord and tail which characterize the larvae of other Tunicata. Omitting from consideration the two classes above mentioned (Acrania and Tunicata), whose remains have not yet been certainly found in a fossil state, there remain the following : the Pisces, Batrachia, Mono- condylia, and Mammalia.1 I have traced the origin2 of the Mammalia to the theromorous reptiles of the Permian epoch, and these to the Cotylosauria. The latter include the Pelycosau- ria, Procolophonina, Anomodontia, and perhaps other orders. In the Cotylosauria the temporal region is roofed over, which roof is reduced in the Pelycosauria to one postorbital arch of the skull, and this is the zy- gomatic of the Mammalia. In both Reptilia and Mam- malia (excepting Prototheria and Procolophonina3) the coracoid element is of reduced size, and is co-ossified with the scapula. In both (except Cotylosauria) the capitular articulation of the ribs is intercentral. In both the humerus has distal condyles and epicondyles, and there is an entepicondylar foramen in the Pelyco- sauria as in the lower Mammalia. The posterior foot 1 See The Evolution of the Vertebrata Progressive and Retrogressive ; Amer. Naturalist, 1885. Dohrn, Der Ursprung der Wirbelthiere und das Princip des Functionwechsels, Leipsic, 1875. " On the Phylogeny of the Vertebrata," Cope, American Naturalist , Dec., 1884. See also the following references: American Naturalist, 1884, p. 1136; Proceedings of the Academy of Philadelphia, 1867, p. 234 ; Proceedings American Philosophical Society, 1884, p. 585 ; American Naturalist, 1884, p. 27; Proceedings American Association for the Advancement of Science, XIX, 1871, p. 233 ; Proceedings American Philosophical Society, 1882, p. 447; American Naturalist, 1884, pp. 261 and 1121 ; Report U. S. Geol. Survey W. of tooth Mer., G. M. Wheeler, 1877, IV, 2, p. 282. 2 Proceedings American Philosophical Society, 1884, p. 43. 3 Seeley, Philos. Trans. Royal Society, 1889, 269. 88 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. is constructed in the Pelycosauria almost exactly like that of the Prototheria. The single occipital condyle of the reptiles is not found in the Mammalia, but in some of the Lacertilia (Uroplates, Gecco) there are two condyles, the median (basioccipital) portion of the single condyle being rudimental, and Seeley has re- cently shown that it is deeply divided at the middle in the Permian Cynognathidae of South Africa.. The Pelycosauria could not, however, have given origin to the Prototheria, since in that subclass of mammals there is a well-developed coracoid. But in the Procolopho- nina this element is developed as in the Prototheria. Moreover, the Pelycosauria and the Procolophonina have the interclavicle, which is an element of membran- ous origin, while in the Prototheria we have the corre- sponding cartilage bone, the episternum. This element is present in the Permian order of the Cotylosauria, which is nearly related to the Pelycosauria. This or- der has, however, single-headed ribs, springing from the diapophyses, which is not usual in the Mammalia. But in some Cotylosauria the diapophyses are short, and in the Monotremata the postcervical ribs are sin- gle-headed, so this character is not an insurmountable one. It is evident that the Mammalia were derived from some type probably referable to a Permian rep- tilian order of the Theromorous series, although to which one is not yet known. The Reptilia have been supposed by Haeckel to have taken their origin from the Batrachia. I have indicated that it is probable that the batrachian order, which stands in this relation to the Reptilia, is the Embolomeri of the Permian epoch. This conclusion rests on the following considerations. The reptilian order of the Cotylosauria approaches the Batrachia of PHYLOGENY. 89 the subclass Stegocephali in the overroofing of the posterior regions of the skull ; in the presence of vo- merine teeth, and in the absence of obturator foramen of the pelvis. In some Cotylosauria (Diadectidae) the stegocephalian tabular bone of the skull is well devel- oped. But in the Cotylosauria, the vertebral column consists mainly of centra, while in the Stegocephali it consists entirely or partly of intercentra. But in the Embolomeri the centra are well developed, and are larger than the intercentra anterior to the pelvis. Hence this is the only order of Stegocephali from which the Reptilia could have been derived. Haeckel derived the Batrachia from the Dipnoi (Dipneusta), and I followed him in this belief, being strengthened in it by Huxley's ascription of an auto- stylic suspensorium of the mandible1 to both divisions. This phylogeny is questioned by Pollard2 and by Kings- ley,3 who would see the ancestry of the Batrachia in the crossopterygian fishes on embryological grounds derived from a study of Polypterus. In support of their view I would cite the absence of the maxillary arch in the Dipnoi, and its full development in the Stegocephali, which are the ancestral Batrachia. The large development of the dorsal and anal fins in the Dipnoi is not favorable to the Haeckelian view; nor do the paired fins approach as nearly to the limbs of Batrachia as do those of some other fishes. It has been shown by Huxley that the suspensorium of the Ba- trachia is hyostylic in its earliest stages, and that it becomes autostylic at a later period of development. 1 Proceedings Zoological Society of London, 1876, p. 59. 1 Anatomischer Anzeiger, VI, p. 338, 1891. 3 American Naturalist, 1892, p. 679. Kingsley would also derive the Dip- noi from Crossopterygia. 9o PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. TO 8 4 E CD P P9 •-*• I >-• W » f n> o E. I o Ha o a 8- O s re re PHYLOGENY. 91 The Batrachia may then have originated from a hyo- stylic teleostomous (i. e., one with complete maxillary arch) fish. Among Teleostomata we naturally look for forms with limbs which approach nearest the batrachian type, and in which median fins are feeble or wanting. Such are the Rhipidopterygia (formerly included in the Crossopterygia), which include the families of Holoptychiidae, Tristichopteridae, Osteolepididae, Coa- lacanthidae, and perhaps some others. These fam- ilies, except the last, abounded in the waters of the Devonian period, at the time when the ancestors of the Batrachia also existed. All of them agree in pos- sessing the median fins of greatly reduced proportions, and the mesodermal or internal elements of the paired fins more like the limbs of the Batrachia than are those of any known fishes. The constitution of the superior cranial wall is a good deal like that of the stegocepha- lous Batrachia. The characters of the fins can be learned from the accompanying figure of the Eusthe- n0flterumf00rdtiyjhitea.ves, one of the Tristichopteridae. The pectoral fin well-nigh realizes Gegenbaur's theory of the derivation of the Chiropterygium from the Ar- chipterygium. The ancestral type of fishes is probably the acan- thodean order of the subclass of sharks (Elasmo- branchii).1 Like other sharks, they are hyostylic and have no maxillary arch or cranial bones. They have the ptychopterygium, which is the primitive type of fin. In this fin the osseous elements which support the fin -rays are enclosed within the body- wall, the rays only being free. Such a fin sustains the hypothesis that the paired fins are parts of primitively continuous 1 As represented by the Cladodontidae ; see Dean, Trans. N. Y. Acad. Set., 1893. p. 124, and Cope, American Naturalist, 1893, p. 999. 92 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. longitudinal folds. This hypothesis is further sus- tained by the acanthodean genus Climatius, where a series of spines intervenes between the paired fins in f :• feP**1*^"^^^'^ -a:^ line with them. From what the Acanthodeans can have been descended is at present conjectural. They trace their ancestry ultimately to Branchiostoma (Am- phioxus) through forms not yet discovered. This ge- PHYLOGENY. 93 nils represents the class Acrania, which is the ancestor of craniate Vertebrata. The phylogeny of the Vertebrata may be repre- sented diagrammatically as follows : Mammalia Aves Teleostomata Telestomata (Rhipidopterygia) Elasmobr. (Selachii) Elasmo Dranchii — Acanthodii Agr atha Tunicata Acrania Enteropneusta The Vertebrata exhibit the most unmistakable gra- dation in the characters of the circulatory system. It has long been the custom to define the classes by means of these characters, taken in connection with those of the skeleton. Commencing in the Leptocardii with the simple tube, we have two chambers in the Marsi- pobranchii and fishes ; three in the Batrachia and Rep- tilia ; and four in the Aves and Mammalia. The aorta- roots commence as numerous pairs of branchial arter- ies in the L,eptocardii ; we see seven in the Marsipo- branchi, five in the fishes (with number reduced in some) ; four and three in Batrachia, where they gen- erally cease to perform branchial functions ; two and one on each side in Reptilia ; the right-hand one in birds, and the left-hand one in Mammalia. This order is clearly an ascending one throughout. It consists of, first, a transition from adaptation to an aquatic, to 94 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. an aerial respiration ; and, second, an increase in the power to aerate and distribute a circulating fluid of in- creased quantity, and of increased calorific capacity. In other words, the circulation passes from the cold to the hot-blooded type coincidentally with the changes of structure above enumerated. The accession of a ca- pacity to maintain a fixed temperature while that of the surrounding medium changes, is an important ad- vance in animal economy. The brain and nervous system also display a gen- eral progressive ascent. Leaving the brainless Acrania, the Marsipobranchs and fishes present us with small hemispheres with thin cortex, larger optic lobes, and well-developed cerebellum. The hemispheres are really larger than they appear to be, as Rabl Riickard has shown l that the supposed hemispheres are only corpora striata. But the superior walls are membranous, and support on their internal side only a layer of epithelial cells, as in the embryos of other Vertebrata, instead of the gray substance. So that, although we find that the cerebellum is really smaller in the Batrachia and most Reptilia than in the fishes, the better development of the hemispheres in the former gives them the pre- eminence. The Elasmobranchii show themselves su- perior to many of the fishes in the large size of their corpora restiformia and cerebellum. The Reptilia con- stitute an advance on the Batrachia. In the latter the optic thalami are, with some exceptions, of greater diameter than the hemispheres, while the reverse is generally true of the reptiles. The crocodiles display much superiority over the other reptiles in the larger cerebellum, with rudimental lateral lobes. The greater development of the hemispheres in birds is well known, 1Biologisch.es Centralblatt, 1884, p. 449. PHYLOGENY, 95 while the general superiority of the brain of the living Mammalia over all other vertebrates is admitted. The consideration of the successive relations of the skeleton in the classes of vertebrates embraces, of course, only the characters which distinguish those classes. These are not numerous. They embrace the structure of the axis of the skull ; of the ear-bones ; of the suspensors of the lower jaw ; of the scapular arch and anterior limb, and of the pelvic arch and posterior limb. Other characters are numerous, but do not enter into consideration at this time. The persistence of the primitive cartilage in any part of the skeleton is, embryologically speaking, a mark of inferiority. From a physiological or functional standpoint it has the same significance, since it is far less effective both for support and for movement than is the segmented osseous skeleton. That this is a prev- alent condition of the lower Vertebrata is well known. The bony fishes and Batrachia have but little of the primitive cartilage remaining, and the quantity is still more reduced in the higher classes. Systematically, then, the vertebrate series is in this respect an ascend- ing one. The Acrania are membranous ; the Marsi- pobranchii and most of the Elasmobranchii cartilagi- nous ; the other Pisces and the Batrachia have the basicranial axis cartilaginous, so that it is not until the Reptilia are reached that we have osseous sphenoid and presphenoid bones, such as characterize the birds and mammals. The vertebral column follows more or less inexactly the history of the base of the skull, but its characters do not define the classes. As regards the suspensor of the lower jaw, the scale is in the main ascending. We witness a gradual change in the segmentation of the mandibular visceral arch of 96 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. the skull, which clearly has for its object such a con- centration of the parts as will produce the greatest ef- fectiveness of the biting function. This is accom- plished by reducing the number of the segments, so as to bring the resistance of the teeth nearer to the power, that is, the masseter and related muscles, and their base of attachment, the brain-case. This is seen in PHYLOGENY. 97 bony vertebrates in the reduction of the segments be- tween the lower jaw proper and the skull, from four to none. In the fishes we have the hyomandibular, the symplectic, the inferior quadrate, and the articular. In the Batrachia, reptiles and birds, we have the quad- rate and articular only, while in the Mammalia these elements also are wanting. The examination of the pectoral and pelvic arches reveals a successive modification of the adaptation of the parts to the mechanical needs of the limbs. In this regard the air-breathing types display wide di- versity from the gill-bearing types or fishes. In the latter, the lateral elements unite below without the in- tervention of a median element or sternum, while in the former the sternum, or parts of it, is generally pres- ent. Either arrangement is susceptible of much me- chanical strength, as witness the siluroid fishes on the one hand, and the mole on the other. The numerous segments of the fishes' pectoral arch must, however, be an element of weakness, so that from a mechanical standpoint it must take the lowest place. The pres- ence of sternal elements, with both clavicle, epicora- coid, and coracoid bones on each side, gives the Rep- tilia the highest place for mechanical strength. The loss of the bony coracoid seen in the tailed Batrachia, and loss of coracoid and epicoracoid in the Mammalia, constitute an element of weakness. The line is not then one of uniform ascent in this respect. The absence of pelvis, or its extremely rudimental condition, in fishes, places them at the foot of the line in this respect. The forward extension of the ilium in some Batrachia and in the Mammalia, is to be com- pared with its backward direction in Reptilia, and its extension both ways in the birds. These conditions g8 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. are all derived by descent from a strictly intermediate position in the Batrachia and Reptilia of the Permian epoch. The anterior direction must be regarded as having the mechanical advantage over the posterior direction, since it shortens the vertebral column and brings the grip of the posterior nearer to the anterior feet. The prevalence of the latter condition in the Mammalia enables them to stand clear of the ground, while the Reptilia move with the abdomen resting upon it, excepting the higher Dinosauria, where the arrange- ment is as in birds. As regards the inferior arches of the pelvis, the Mammalia have the advantage again, in the strong bony median symphysis connecting the ischium and pubis.1 This character, universal among the land Vertebrata of the Permian epoch, has been lost by the modern Reptilia and birds, and is retained only by the Mammalia. So the lines, excepting the mam- malian, have degenerated in every direction in the char- acters of the pelvis. The limbs of the Pisces are as well adapted to their environment as are those of the land Vertebrata ; but, from an embryological standpoint, their structure is inferior. The primitive rays are less modified in the fin than in the limb ; and limbs themselves display a constantly increasing differentiation of parts, com- mencing with the Batrachia and ending with the Mam- malia. The details of these modifications belong to the history of the contents of the classes, however, rather than to the succession of the Vertebrata as a whole. In review, it may be said that a comparison of the characters which define the classes of the vertebrates shows that this branch of the animal kingdom has IThis is an advantage as a protection during gestation. PHYLOGENY. 99 made with the ages successive steps of progress from lower to higher conditions. This progress has not been without exception, since, as regards the construction of the scapular arch, the Mammalia have retrograded from the reptilian standard as a whole. In subsequent pages I shall take up the lines of the classes separately. b. The Line of the Pisces. The fishes form various series and subseries, and the tracing of all of them is not yet practicable, owing to the deficiency in our knowledge of the earliest or ancestral forms. Thus the origins of the three sub- classes, Holocephali, Dipnoi, and Elasmobranchii, are lost in the obscurity of the early Paleozoic ages. The genus Paleospondylus of Traquair from the Carbonife- rous probably represents an Agnathous type from which all fishes may have sprung, although the genus, as now known, has not sufficient antiquity to claim this place. It may be a near descendant of the amphi- oxus. A comparison of the four subclasses of fishes shows that they are related in pairs. The Holocephali and Dipnoi have no distinct suspensory segment for the lower jaw, while the Elasmobranchii and Teleostomata have such a separate element. The latter, therefore, present one step in the direction of complication be- yond the former. It is, however, asserted by Huxley1 that the absence of suspensorium is due to its appro- priation by the hyoid arch in the Holocephali, and its rudimental condition in the Dipnoi. If this be the case, the Holocephali and Dipnoi are peculiar speciali- 1 Proceedings Zoological Society, London, 1876, p. 45, ioo PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. zations at one side of the main line of descent of the fishes. We look then for the ancestral type of the true fishes among the Elasmobranchii, and of these the Ichthyotomi display the greatest resemblances to the Teleostomata in all respects.1 Too little is known of the history of the subclasses, excepting the Teleostomata, for us to be able to say much of the direction of the descent of their contained orders. On the sharks much light is shed by the dis- covery of characters of the genus Cladodus Agass., in which the support of the paired fins consists of a meta- pterygium, which is enclosed in a lateral fold of the body wall, and which gives rise to simple external basilar rods only. Of the Teleostomata a much clearer history is accessible. It has four primary divisions or tribes which differ solely in the structure of the sup- ports of the fins. In the first division, the Crossopte- rygia, the anterior limbs have numerous basilar bones which are supported on a peduncle of axial bones. The posterior limbs are similar. In the second divi- sion, or Podopterygia (the sturgeons, etc.), the pos- terior limbs remain the same, while the anterior limbs have undergone a great abbreviation in the loss of the axial bones and the reduction of the number and length of the basilar bones. In the third group, or Actino- pterygia, both limbs have undergone reduction, the basilar bones in the posterior fin being almost all atro- phied, while those of the fore limb are much reduced in number. In the fourth superorder, the Rhipido- pterygia, the axial supports of the median fins are greatly reduced in number, presenting a marked con- trast to the other superorders ; while the axial elements 1 See Proceedings American Philosophical Society, 1884, p. 572, on the genus Didymodus. PHYLOGENY. 101 of the paired fins are present and primitive, and re- semble those of one of the suborders of sharks. The phylogeny of the Teleostomata, as indicated by the fin-structure, will commence with the Crosso- pterygia. From this group the Podopterygia may be theoretically derived, and from these the Actinoptery- gia. The Rhipidopterygia appear to be a side group, not in the main piscine line. But the oldest known Crossopterygia are from the Carboniferous, while the Rhipidopterygia are abundant in the Devonian. More- over, the superorder Actinopterygia, with its contracted fins, may have appeared in the Carboniferous, while the Podopterygia (Palaeoniscidae) certainly did so. The descent of the fishes in general has witnessed, then, a contraction of the limbs to a very small com- pass, and their substitution by a system of accessory dermal radii. This has been an ever-widening diver- gence from the type of the higher Vertebrata, and from this standpoint, and also a view of the "loss of parts without complementary addition of other parts," may be regarded as a process of degeneration. Taking up the great division of the Actinopterygia, which embraces most of the species of living fishes, we can trace the direction of descent largely by ref- erence to their systematic relations when we have no fossils to guide us. The three subtribes adopted by Jordan represent three series of the true fishes which indicate lines of descent. The Holostei include the remainder of the old ganoids after the subtraction of the Rhipidoptery- gia, the Crossopterygia, and the Podopterygia. They resemble these forms in the muscular bulbus arteriosus of the heart, in the chiasm of the optic nerves, and in the greater distinctness of the metapterygium. The 102 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. two former characters are complexities which the two other divisions do not possess, and which, as descend- ants coming later in time, must be regarded as inferior, and therefore to that extent degenerate. Of these di- visions the Malacopterygia approach nearest the Ho- lostei, and are indeed not distinctly definable without exceptions. The third division, or Acanthopterygia, shows a marked advance beyond the others in : (i) the obliteration of the primitive trachea, or ductus pneu- maticus, which connects the swim-bladder and oeso- phagus ; (2) the advance of the ventral fins from the abdomen forward to the throat ; (3) the separation of the parietal bones by the supraoccipital ; (4) the pres- ence of numerous spinous rays in the fins ; and (5) the roughening of the edges of the scales, forming the cten- oid type. There are more or less numerous excep- tions to all of these characters. The changes are all further divergencies from the other vertebrate classes, or away from the general line of ascent of the verte- brate series taken as a whole. The end gained is spe- cialization ; but whether the series can be called either distinctively progressive or retrogressive, is not so clear. The development of osseous spines, rough scales, and other weapons of defense, together with the generally superior energy and tone which prevail among the Acanthopterygia, characterize them as su- perior to the Malacopterygia, but their departure from the ascending line of the Vertebrata has another ap- pearance. The descent of the Acanthopterygian fishes has probably been from Holostean ancestors, both with and without the intervention of Malacopterygian forms. This is indicated by increase in the number of basilar PHYLOGENY. 103 bones1 in the fins of families which have pectoral ven- tral fins, and in the extinct genus Dorypterus.2 The Malacopterygia display three or four distinct lines of descent. The simplest type is represented by the order Isospondyli, and paleontology indicates clearly that this order is also the oldest, as it dates from the Trias at least. In one line the anterior dorsal verte- brae have become complicated, and form an interlock- ing mass which is intimately connected with the sense of equilibrium in the water. This series commences with the Characinidae, passes through the Cyprinidae, and ends with the Siluridae. The arrangements for equilibration constitute a superadded complication, and to these are added in the Siluroids defensive spines and armor. Some of this order, however, are distinctly degenerate, as the soft purblind Ageniosus, and the parasitic Stegophilus and Vandellia, which are nearly blind, without weapons, and with greatly reduced fins. The next line (the Haplomi, pike, etc.) loses the precoracoid arch and has the parietal bones separated, both characters of the Acanthopterygia. This group was apparently abundant during the Cretaceous period, and it may have given origin to many of the Acantho- pterygia. Another line also loses the precoracoid, but in other respects diverges totally from the Acanthopterygia and all other Malacopterygia. This is the line of the eels. They next lose the connection between the scapular arch and the skull, which is followed by the loss of the pectoral fin. The ventral fin disappeared sooner. The palatine bones and teeth disappear, and the suspensor 1 See Cope " On the Homologies of the Fins of Fishes " ; American Nat- uralist, 1890, p. 401. 2 See Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement nf Sci- ence, 1878, p. 297. io4 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. of the lower jaw grows longer and loses its symplectic element. The opercular bones grow smaller, and some of them disappear. The ossification of most of the hyoid elements disappears, and some of their cartila- ginous bases even vanish. These forms are the marine eels or Colocephali. The most extraordinary example of specialization and degeneracy is seen in the abyssal eels of the family Eurypharyngidae. Here all the de- generate features above mentioned are present in ex- cess, and others are added, as the loss of ossification of a part of the skull, almost total obliteration of the hyoid and scapular arches, and the semi-notochordal condition of the vertebral column, etc. The Acanthopterygia nearest the Malacopterygia have abdominal ventral fins, and belong to several or- ders. It is such types as these that may be supposed to have been derived directly from Holostean ances- tors. They appear in the Cretaceous period (Derce- tidae), along with the types that connect with the Ma- lacopterygia (Haplomi). Intermediate forms between these and typical Acanthopterygii occur in the Eocene (Trichophanes, Erismatopterus), showing several lines of descent. The Dercetidae belong apparently to the order Hemibranchi, while the Eocene genera named belong apparently to the Aphododiridae, the immediate ancestor of the highest Physoclysti, the Percomorphi. The order Hemibranchi is a series of much interest. Its members lose the membrane of their dorsal spinous fin (Gasterosteidae), and then the fin itself (Fistularia, Pegasus). The branchial apparatus has undergone, as in the eels, successive deossification (by retarda- tion), and this in direct relation to the degree with which the body comes to be protected by bony shields, reaching the greatest defect in the Amphisilidae. One PHYLOGENY. 105 more downward step is seen in the next succeeding order of the Lophobranchii. The branchial hyoid ap- paratus is reduced to a few cartilaginous pieces, and the branchial fringes are much reduced in size. In the Hippocampidae the caudal fin disappears and the tail becomes a prehensile organ by the aid of which the species lead a sedentary life. The mouth is much con- tracted and becomes the anterior orifice of a suctorial tube. This is a second line of unmistakable degen- eracy among true fishes. The Acanthopterygia with pectoral ventral fins pre- sent us with perhaps ten important ordinal or subordi- nal divisions. Until the paleontology of this series is better known, we shall have difficulty in constructing phylogenies. Some of the lines may, however, be made out. The accompanying diagram will assist in understanding them. The Anacanthini present a general weakening of the organization in the less firmness of the osseous tissue and the frequent reduction in the size and char- acter of the fins. The caudal vertebrae are of the diphycercal type. As this group does not appear early in geological time, and as it is largely represented now in the abyssal ocean fauna, there is every reason to regard it as a degenerate type.1 The Heterosomata (flounders) found it convenient to lie on one side, a habit which would appear to result from a want of mo- tive energy. The fins are very inefficient organs of movement in them, and they are certainly no rivals for swift-swimming fishes in the struggle for existence, excepting as they conceal themselves. In order to see the better while unseen, the inferior eye has turned in- IThe general characters of the deep-sea fish-fauna are those of degen- eracy. 106 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. ward, i. e., upward, and finally has penetrated to the superior surface, so that both eyes are on one side. This peculiarity would be incredible, if we did not know of 8 ffi CD , — 5* -. r o •d o its existence, and is an illustration of the extraordinary powers of accommodation possessed by nature. The Heterosomata (flatfishes) can only be considered a de- generate group. The scyphobranch line presents a PHYLOGENY. 107 specialization of the superior pharyngeal bones, which is continued by the Haplodoci (Batrachidae). This cannot be called a degenerate line, although the fin- rays are soft. The double bony floor of the skull of the distegous percomorph fishes is a complication which places them at the summit of the line of true fishes. At the sum- mit of this division must be placed the Pharyngogna- thi, which fill an important role in the economy of the tropical seas, and the fresh waters of the Southern Hemisphere. By means of their powerful grinding pharyngeal apparatus they can reduce vegetable and animal food inaccessible to other fishes. The result is seen in their multifarious species and innumerable individuals decked in gorgeous colors, and often reach- ing considerable size. This is the royal suborder of fishes, and there is no reason why they should not con- tinue to increase in importance in the present fauna. Very different is the line of the Plectognathi. The probable ancestors of this division, the Epelasmia (Chaetodontidse, etc.), are also abundant in the tropi- cal seas, and are among the most brilliantly colored of fishes. One of their peculiarities is seen in a shorten- ing of the brain-case and prolongation of the jaws downward and forward. The utility of this arrange- ment is probably to enable them to procure their food from the holes and cavities of the coral reefs, among which they dwell. In some of the genera the muzzle has become tubular (Chelmo), and is actually used as a blow-gun by which insects are secured by shooting them with drops of water. This shortening of the basicranial axis has produced a corresponding abbre- viation of the hyoid apparatus. The superior pharyn- geal bones are so crowded as to have become a series io8 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. of vertical plates like the leaves of a book. These characters are further developed in the Plectognathi. The brain-case is very small, the face is very elongate, and the mouth is much contracted. The bones sur- rounding it in each jaw are coossified. The axial ele- ments (pubes) of the posterior fins unite together, be- come very elongate, and lose the natatory portion. In one group (Orthagoriscidae) the posterior part of the vertebral column is lost, and the caudal fin is a nearly useless rudiment. In the Ostraciontidae (which may have had a different origin, as the pharyngeal bones are not contracted) the natatory powers are much re- duced, and the body is inclosed in an osseous carapace so as to be capable of very little movement. The en- tire order is deficient in osseous tissue, the bones be- ing thin and weak. It is a marked case of degeneracy. There are several evident instances of sporadic de- generacy in other orders. One of these is the case of the family of the Icosteidae, fishes from deep waters off the coast of California. Although members of the Percomorphi, the skeleton in the two genera Icosteus and Icichthys is unossified, and is perfectly flexible. Approximations to this state of things are seen in the parasitic genus Cyclopterus, and in the ribbon-fishes, Trachypteridae. Thus nearly all the main lines of the Acanthopte- rygii are degenerate ; the exceptions are those that terminate in the Scombridae (mackerel), Serranidae, and Scaridae (Pharyngognathi). c. The Line of the Batrachia. We know Batrachia first in the Coal Measures. They reach a great development in the Permian epoch, and are represented by large species in the Triassic PHYLOGENY. 109 period. From that time they diminish in numbers, and at the present day form an insignificant part of the vertebrate fauna of the earth. The history of their succession is told by a table of classification such as I give below : I. Supraoccipital, tabular, and supramastoid bones present. Pro- podial bones distinct. STEGOCEPHALI. Vertebral centra, including atlas, segmented, one set of segments together supporting one arch ; Rhachilomi. Vertebrae segmented, the superior and inferior segments each complete, forming two centra to each arch ; Embolomeri. Vertebral centra, including atlas, not segmented, one to each arch; Microsauri. II. Supraoccipital and supramastoid bones wanting. Frontal and propodial bones distinct ; URODELA. a. An os tabulare. A palatine arch and separate caudal vertebras ; Proteida aa. No os tabulare. A maxillary arch ; palatine arch imperfect ; nasals, pre- maxillaries and caudal vertebras distinct ; Pseudosauria.1 No maxillary or palatine arches ; nasals and premaxil- liary, also caudal vertebras, distinct ; Trachystomata. III. Supraoccipital, tabular, and supramastoid bones wanting. Frontals and parietals connate ; propodial bones and caudal vertebrae confluent ; SALIENTIA. Premaxillaries distinct from nasals ; no palatine arch ; astragalus and calcaneum elongate, forming a distinct segment of the limb ; Anura. The probable phylogeny of these orders as imper- fectly indicated by paleontology is exhibited in the diagram on the following page. An examination of the above tables shows that there has been in the history of the batrachian class a reduction in the number of the elements composing 1 Includes the Gymnophiona. no PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. the skull, both by loss and by fusion with each other. It also shows that the vertebrae have passed from a notochordal state with segmented centra, to biconcave centra, and finally to ball-and-socket centra, with a great reduction of numbers. It is also the fact that the earlier forms (those of the Permian epoch) show the most mammalian characters of the tarsus and of the pelvis. The later forms, the salamanders, show a more generalized form of carpus and tarsus and of pelvis also. In the latest forms, the Anura, the carpus and tarsus are reduced through loss of parts, except Salientia Traphystomata REPTILIA Urodeh Proteida Microsauri Rhachitomi Ganocephali that the astragalus and calcaneum are phenomenally elongate. We have then, in the batrachian series, a somewhat mixed kind of change ; but it principally consists of concentration and consolidation of parts. The question as to whether this process is one of pro- gression or retrogression may be answered as follows • If degeneracy consists in "the loss of parts without complementary addition of other parts," then the ba- trachian line is a degenerate line. This is only partly true of the vertebral column, which presents the most primitive characters in the early, Permian, genera (Rhachitomi). If departure from the nearest approx- PHYLOGENY. in imation to the Mammalia is degeneracy, then the changes in this class come partly under that head. The scapular and pelvic arches of the Rachitomi are more mammalian than are those of any of their successors ; Fig. 27. — Cricotus crassidiscus Cope, parts of individual represented in Fig. 28; one-third natural size. From Permian of Texas, a, head from above; 3, part of belly from below. From Cope. the carpus and tarsus are less so than that of the Anura. There are several groups which show special marks of degeneracy. Such are the reduced maxillary bones 3 •a ft 1 1 s? ?. o s- ""* s. * $ ^ 5' M S & ."» g I a I n o •a o re n o - 3 n re B r* •-1 P B 3 2. °- 2. ^*« C/3 B -• O n> -i p a> a> fD 3 S c O PHYLOGENY, 113 and persistent gills of the Protei'da ; the absence of the maxiUary bones and the presence of gills in the Trachystomata ; the loss of a pair of legs and feeble- ness of the remaining pair in the same ; and the ex- treme reduction of the limbs in Amphiuma, and their total loss in the Caeciliidae. Such I must also regard, with Lankester, the persistent branchiae of the sire- dons. I may add that in the brain of the protei'd Nec- turus the hemispheres are relatively larger than in the Anura, which are at the end of the line. It must be concluded, then, that in many respects the Batrachia have undergone degeneracy with the passage of time. d. TJie Reptilian Line. As in the case of the Batrachia, the easiest way of obtaining a general view of the history of this class is by throwing their principal structural characters into a tabular form. As in the case of that class, I commence with the oldest forms and end with the latest in the order of time, which, as usual, corresponds, with the order of structure. I except from this the first order, the Ichthyopterygia, which we do not know prior to , -I rr-\ • • 1 the Inassic period : I. The quadrate bone united with the adjacent elements by suture. A. Temporal region of skull with a bony roof ; no postorbital bars. Supramastoid bone present ; an interclavicle ; limbs ambulatory ; Cotylosatiria. AA. Cranium with one postorbital bar; no sternum. (Sy- naptosauria.) a. Paroccipital bone distinct. A supramastoid bone ; ribs two-headed on centrum ; carpals and tarsals not distinct in form from meta- podials ; Ichthyopterygia, 1 14 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. No supramastoid ; sub- and postpelvic ossifications ; in- terclavicle and clavicles separated from and below scapular arch ; ribs one-headed on centrum ; coracoid large, free posteriorly ; Testudinata. aa. Paroccipital bone not distinct. Ribs one or two-headed, capitulum intercentral ; clav- icles and interclavicles forming part of shoulder- girdle ; scapula simple ; pubis and ischium plate-like with small or no obturator foramen ; no sub- or post-pelvic bones ; no supramastoid ; Theromora. Supramastoid present ; ribs one-headed ; scapula trira- diate ; no sternum ; pubis and ischium plate-like ; no sub- or postpelvic bones ; Plesiosauria. AAA. Cranium with two postorbital bars ; a sternum. (Archo- sauria.) Paroccipital bone not distinct ; no supramastoid. Ribs two-headed ; no interclavicle ; external anterior digits greatly elongate to support a patagium ; Ornithosauria. Ribs two-headed ; no interclavicle ; acetabulum per- forate ; limbs ambulatory ; Dinosauria. Ribs two-headed ; an interclavicle ; acetabulum closed ; feet ambulatory ; Crocodilia. Ribs one headed ; an interclavicle ; acetabulum closed ; feet ambulatory ; Rhynchocephalia. II. The quadrate loosely articulated with the adjacent elements, and only proximally. (Streptostylica.) One postorbital bar, when present ; a paroccipital ; su- pramastoid not distinct ; ribs one-headed; Squamata. An inspection of the characters of these ten orders, and their consideration in connection with their geo- logical history, will give a definite idea as to the char- acter of their evolution. The history of the class, and therefore the discussion of the question, is limited in time to the period which has elapsed since the Per- mian epoch inclusive, for it is then that the Reptilia enter the field of our knowledge. During this period two remarkable orders of reptiles inhabited the earth, PHYLOGENY. those of the Cotylosauria and of the Theromora. The important character and role of these types may be inferred from the fact that the Cotylosauria are struc- turally nearer to the Batrachia. and the Theromora to the Mammalia than any other, and the former presents characters which render it probable that all the other reptiles derived their being from them. The phylogeny may be thus expressed : MAMMALIA Pterosauria Squamata Dinosauria Crocodilia Rhynchocephalia Ichthyosauria Therid 'otylosauri Sauropterygia Anomodonta Testudinata It is extremely probable that the characters of the posterior parts of the cranium of reptiles, as seen in the osseous bars posterior to the orbit, were derived by a kind of natural trephining of the cranial roof of the primitive order of the Cotylosauria. This order has left remains in the Permian beds of North Amer- ica, South Africa, and Germany. This is the theory of Baur,3and I have rendered it probable by researches on the Permian genera of North America.4 1 Some unknown type of Pythonomorpha will represent the ancestor of the Ophidia, while it is uncertain whether this order originated from the Theriodonta or the Rhynchocephalia. 2 The Theromora include the Pelycosauria, Theriodonta, Anomodonta, and other suborders. 3 American Journal of Morphology, 1889, p. 471. 4 Trans. Amer. Philos. Society, 1892, p. 13 ; American Naturalist, 1892, p. 407. n6 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. The diagrams on pages 117-119 illustrate the suc- cessive changes in the structure of the posterior region of the skull in the types mentioned. The orders and suborders Pseudosuchia, Rhynchocephalia, Ichthyo- pterygia, Dinosauria, Crocodilia, Sauropterygia, and Testudinata commence at the beginning of Mesozoic time, after the Permian had closed. The Squamata (lizards and snakes) commence, so far as is certainly known, in the later Mesozoic, in the Cretaceous period. The line which terminated in the Lacertilia and. Ophidia (Squamata) may have originated directly from the Theriodonta, or it may have descended from the Rhynchocephalia. It departs from the former type in two respects : First, in the loss of the capitular articulation of the ribs, and, second, in the gradual elongation and final freedom of the suspensory bone of the lower jaw (the os quadratum). In so departing from the Theromora, it also departs from the mammalian type. The ribs assume the less perfect kind of attachment which the mammals only exhibit in some of the whales, and the articulation of the lower jaw loses in strength, while it gains in extensibility, as is seen in the develop- ment of the line of the eels among fishes. The end of this series, the snakes, must therefore be said to be the result of a process of creation by degeneration, and their lack of scapular arch and fore limb and usual lack of pelvic arch and hind limb are confirmatory evidence of the truth of this view of the case. Secondly, as regards the ossification of the anterior part of the brain-case. This is deficient in some of the Theromora, the ancestral series, which resemble in this, as in many other things, the contemporary Ba- trachia. The late orders mostly have the anterior walls PHYLOGENY. 117 c o, (U CJ o C/ sx 0) a o U <* I o CJ ro d D. O U •"s ^ I— ^ "^ P G I * *~ a -y. n8 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. CO O to *3 I 5S s. *•*. a I a 1 S PHYLOGENY. 119 i2o PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. membranous, but, in the streptostylicate series at the end, the skull in the snakes becomes entirely closed in front. In this respect, then, the latter may be said to be the highest or most perfect order. As regards the scapular arch, including the ster- num, no order possesses as many elements as thor- oughly articulated for the use of the anterior leg as the Permian Theromora (excepting in the suborder Pelyco- sauria). In all the orders there is loss of parts, except- ing only in the Ornithosauria and the Lacertilia. In the former the adaptation is to flying. The latter re- tain nearly the theromorous type. An especial side development is the modification of abdominal bones into three pairs of peculiar elements to be united with part of the scapular arch into a plastron, and the in- clusion of the coracoid above them, seen in the Testu- dinata. The pelvic arch has a more simple history. Again, in the Theromora we have the nearest approach to the Mammalia. The only other order which displays sim- ilar characters is the Ornithosauria (Dimorphodon, according to Seeley). In the Dinosauria we have a side modification which is an adaptation to the erect or bipedal mode of progression, the inferior bones be- ing thrown backward so as to support the viscera in a more posterior position in birds. This is an obvious necessity to a bipedal animal where the vertebral col- umn is not perpendicular. And it is from the Triassic Dinosauria that I suppose the birds to have arisen. The main line of the Reptilia, however, departs from both the mammalian and the avian type and loses in strength as compared with the former. In the latest orders, the Pythonomorpha and Ophidia, the pelvis is rudi- rnental or absent. PHYLOGENY. 121 As regards the limbs, the degeneracy is well marked. No reptilian order of later ages approaches so near to the Mammalia in these parts as do the Permian Thero- mora. This approximation is seen in the internal epi- condylar foramen and well-developed condyles of the humerus, and in the well-differentiated seven bones of the tarsus. The epicondylar foramen is only retained in later reptiles in the rhynchocephalian Sphenodon (Dollo); and the condyles of the Dinosauria and all of the other orders, excepting the Ornithosauria and some Lacertilia, are greatly wanting in the strong charac- terization seen in the Theromora. The posterior foot seems to have stamped out the greater part of the tar- sus in the huge Dinosauria, and it is reduced, though to a less degree, in all the other orders. In the paddled Plesiosauria, dwellers in the sea, the tarsus and carpus have lost all characterization, probably by a process of degeneracy, as in the mammalian whales. This is to be inferred from the comparatively late period of their appearance in time. The still more unspecialized feet and limbs of the Ichthyosaurus (Ichthyopterygia) can not yet be ascribed to degeneracy, for their history is too little known. At the end of the line, the snakes present us with another evidence of degeneracy. But few have a pelvic arch (Glauconiidae Peters), while very few (Peropoda) have any trace of a posterior limb. The vertebrae are not introduced into the definitions of the orders, since they are not so exclusively distinc- tive as many other parts of the skeleton. They never- theless must not be overlooked. As in the Batrachia, the Permian orders show inferiority in the deficient ossification of the centrum. Many of the Theromora are notochordal, a character not found in any later or- 122 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. der of reptiles excepting in a few Lacertilia (Gecconi- dae). They thus differ from the Mammalia, whose characters are approached more nearly by some of the terrestrial Dinosauria in this respect. Leaving this order, we soon reach the prevalant ball-and-socket type of the majority of Reptilia. This strong kind of articulation is a need which accompanies the more elongated column which itself results at first from the posterior direction of the ilium. In the order with the longest column, the Ophidia, a second articulation, the zygosphen, is introduced. The mechanical value of the later reptilian vertebral structure is obvious, and in this respect the class may be said to present a higher or more perfect condition than the Mammalia. In review it may be said of the reptilian line, that it exhibits marked degeneracy in its skeletal structure since the Permian epoch ; the exception to this state- ment being in the nature of the articulations of the vertebrae. And this specialization is an adaptation to one of the conditions of degeneracy, viz., the weaken- ing and final loss of the limbs and the arches to which they are attached. The history of the development of the brain in the Reptilia presents some interesting facts. In the dia- dectid family of the Permian Cotylosauria it is smaller than in a Boa constrictor, but larger than in some of the Jurassic Dinosauria. Marsh has shown that some of the latter possess brains with relatively very narrow hemispheres, so that in this organ those gigantic rep- tiles were degenerate, while the existing streptostyli- cate orders have advanced beyond their Permian an- cestors. There are many remarkable cases of what may now be safely called degradation to be seen in the contents PHYLOGENY. 123 of the orders of reptiles.1 Among tortoises may be cited the loss of one or two series of phalanges in sev- eral especially terrestrial families of the Testudinidae. The cases among the Lacertilia are the most remark- able. The entire families of the Pygopodidae, the Anniellidae, the Anelytropidse, and the Dibamidae are degraded from superior forms. In the Anguidae, Te- idae, and Scincidae, we have series of forms whose steps are measured by the loss of a pair of limbs, or of from one to all the digits, and even to all the limbs. In some series the surangular bone is lost. In others the eye diminishes in size, loses its lids, loses the folds of the epidermis which distinguish the cornea, and finally is entirely obscured by the closure of the oph- thalmic orifice in the true skin.2 Among the snakes a similar degradation of the organs of sight has taken place in two suborders, which live underground, and often in ants' nests. The Tortricidae and Uropeltidae are burrowing-snakes which display some of the earlier stages of this process. One genus of the true colubrine snakes even (according to Gtmther) has the eyes ob- scured as completely as those of the inferior types above named (genus Typhlogeophis.) e. The Avian Line. The paleontology of the birds not being well known, our conclusions respecting the character of their evo- lution must be very incomplete. A few lines of suc- cession are, however, quite obvious, and some of them are clearly lines of progress, and others are lines of re- ISuch forms in the Lacertilia have been regarded as degradational by Lankester and Boulanger. 2A table of the degenerate forms of Lacertilia is given in the chapter on Catagenesis. I24 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. trogression. The first bird we know at all completely, is the celebrated Archeopteryx of the Solenhofen slates of the Jurassic period. In its elongate series of caudal vertebrae and the persistent digits of the anterior limbs we have a clear indication of the process of change which has produced the true birds, and we can see that it involves a specialization of a very pronounced sort. The later forms described by Seeley and Marsh from the Cretaceous beds of England and North Amer- ica, some of which have biconcave vertebras, and all probably, the American forms certainly, possessed teeth. This latter character was evidently speedily lost, and others more characteristic of the subclass be- came the field of developmental change. The parts which subsequently attained especial development are the wings and their appendages ; the feet and their envelopes, and the vocal organs. Taking all things into consideration, the greatest sum of progress has been made by the perching birds,- whose feet have be- come effective organs for grasping, whose vocal organs are most perfect, and whose flight is generally good, and often very good. In these birds also the circula- tory system is most modified, in the loss of one of the carotid arteries. The power of flight, the especially avian charac- ter, has been developed most irregularly, as it appears in all the orders in especial cases. This is apparent so early as in the Cretaceous toothed birds already mentioned. According to Marsh, the Hesperornithidae have rudimental wings, while these organs are well developed in the Ichthyornithidae. They are well de- veloped among natatorial forms in the albatrosses and frigate pelicans, and in the skuas, gulls, and terns, and are rudimental in their allies, the auks. They are PHYLOGENY. 125 developed among rasorial types in the sand-grouse, and, among the adjacent forms, the pigeons. Then U^ V \_.L^J^<^VJ. Clll J^Hg 1 O.OV_H. IdJ. L_y ^J\^ ^ 11H_< 3O.11\J.' and, among the adjacent forms, the pigeons. "w. Fig. 32. — Archceoptcryx lithographica, from the middle Oolite of Bavaria. among the lower Passeres, the humming-birds exceed all birds in their powers of flight, and the swifts and i26 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. •» some of the Caprimulgidae are highly developed in this respect. Among the higher or true song birds, the swallows form a notable example. With these high specializations occur some remarkable deficiencies. Such are the reduction of the feet in the Caprimulgidae, swifts, and swallows, and the foetal character of the bill in the same families. In the syndactyle families, represented by the kingfishers, the condition of the feet is evidently the result of a process of degenera- tion. A great many significant points may be observed in the developmental history of the epidermic struc- tures, especially in the feathers. The scale of change in this respect is in general a rising one, though vari- ous kinds of exceptions and variations occur. In the development of the rectrices (tail-feathers) there are genera of the wading and rasorial types, and even in the insessorial series, where those feathers are of prim- itive structure (Menuridae), are greatly reduced, or absolutely wanting. These are cases of degeneracy. There is no doubt that the avian series is in gen- eral an ascending one. f. The Mammalian Line. Discoveries in paleontology have so far invalidated the accepted definitions of the orders of this class that it is difficult to give a clearly cut analysis, especially from the skeleton alone. The following scheme, there- fore, while it expresses the natural groupings and affin- ities, is defective, in that some of the definitions are not without exceptions : 1 IThis classification of the Mammalia was first published by the writer in the American Naturalist for 1885 ; was improved in the same, 1889 (October); and appeared in a Syllabus of Lectures of the University of Pennsylvania, July, 1891, PHYLOGENY. 127 I. A large coracoid bone articulating with the sternum. An inter- clavicle (Prototheria). Epicoracoid and marsupial bones ; fibula articulating with proximal end of astragalus : i. Monotremata. II. Coracoid a small process coossified with the scapula (Eutheria). a. Marsupial bones ; palate with perforations (uterus divided ; placenta and corpus callosum rudimental or wanting ; cere- bral hemispheres small and generally smooth). But one deciduous molar tooth : 2. Marsupialia aa. No marsupial bones ; palate generally entire (placenta and corpus callosum well developed). j3. Anterior limb reduced to more or less inflexible paddles posterior limbs wanting (Mutilata). Elbow-joint fixed ; carpals discoid, and with the digits separated by cartilage ; lower jaw without ascending ramus : 3. Cetacea. Elbow-joint flexible ; carpals and phalanges with normal articulations; lower jaw with ascending ramus : 4. Sirenia. /?/?. Anterior limbs with flexible joints. Ungual phalanges compressed and pointed1 (Unguiculata). y. Feet taxeopodous (with exceptions in the carpus). &. Teeth without enamel ; generally no incisors. Limbs not volant ; hemispheres small, smooth : 5. Edentata 66. Teeth with enamel ; incisors generally present. No postglenoid process; mandibular condyle not trans- verse ; limbs not volant ; hemispheres small, smooth : 6. Glires Anterior limbs volant ; hemispheres small, smooth : 7. Chiroptera A postglenoid process ; mandibular condyle transverse ; limbs not volant; no scapholunar bone2; hemi- spheres small, smooth : 8. Bunotheria* A postglenoid process ; limbs not volant, with a scapho- lunar bone ; hemispheres larger, convoluted : 9. Carnivora. 1 Except Mesonychiidae. 2 Except Erinaceus and Talpa. 3 With the suborders Pantotheria, Creodonta, Insectivora, and Tillodonta 128 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. 77. Feet diplarthrous. Limbs ambulatory; a postglenoid process ; molars qua- dritubercular : 10. Ancylopoda. (3/3(3. Anterior limbs with flexible joints and distinct digits ; lingual phalanges not compressed and acute at apex1 (Un- gulata2). £ . Tarsal bones in linear series ; carpals generally in linear series. Limbs ambulatory; teeth with enamel : n. Taxeopoda? ££. Carpal series alternating ; tarsal series linear. Limbs ambulatory ; median digits longest ; teeth with enamel : 12. Toxodontia. £££. Tarsal series alternating ; carpals linear. Cuboid bone partly supporting navicular, not in contact with astragalus : 13. Proboscidia. ££££. Both tarsal and carpal series more or less alternating. Os magnum not supporting scaphoides ; cuboid sup- porting astragalus ; superior molars tritubercular : 14. Amblypoda. Os magnum supporting scaphoides ; superior molars quadritubercular : 4 15. Diplarthra? 1 Except the Hapalidae. 2 Lamarck, Zoologie Philosophique, 1809. 3 This order has the following suborders : Carpal series linear ; no intermedium ; tibia not interlocking with astraga- lus; no anapophyses ; incisors rooted ; hallux not opposable : Condylarthra. Carpal series linear; an intermedium; tibia interlocking with astragalus; hallux not opposable : Hyracoidea. An intermedium; fibula not interlocking; anapophyses; hallux opposable; incisors growing from persistent pulps : Daubentonioidca. An intermedium; fibula not interlocking; anapophyses; hallux opposable; incisors rooted ; carpus generally linear : Quadrumana. No intermedium ; 6 nor anapophyses; carpal rows alternating; incisors rooted : AnthropomorphaH The only difference between the Taxeopoda and the Bunotheria is in the unguliform terminal phalanges of the former as compared with the clawed or unguiculate form in the latter. The marmosets among the former division are, however, furnished with typical claws. 4 Except Trigonolestes. 5 This order includes the suborders Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla. It is the Ungulata of some authors. 6 Except in Simia and Hylobates. 7 Includes the Anthropoid apes and man. PHYLOGENY, 129 i3o PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. 3 era' 3 CTQ c sr <-»• K> o •t n n (D 3 to O O a. c w cT 'd cr o o O a. o B PHYLOGENY. u, 0) O O rt >v ffi in O ft T3 c rt C a a t£) C CO tic 132 PRIMARY FACTORS CF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. The characters of the skeleton of the order Mono- tremata show that it is nearest of kin to the Reptilia, and many subordinate characters, especially of the extrem- ities, point to the Theromora as its ancestral source.1 In the general characters the Marsupialia naturally follow in a rising scale, as proved by the increasing perfection of the reproductive system. The Monodel- phia follow with improvements in the reproductive system and the brain, as indicated in the table above given. The oldest Monodelphia were, in respect to the structure of the brain, much like the Marsupialia, and some of the existing orders resemble them in some parts of their brain-structure. Such are the Condylar- thra and Amblypoda of extinct groups, and the Buno- theria, Edentata, Glires, and Chiroptera, recent and extinct. The characters of the brains of Amblypoda and some Creodonta are, in their superficial char- acters, even inferior to existing marsupials. The di- vided uterus of the recent forms named, also gives them the position next to the Marsupialia. In the Carnivora, Hyracoidea, and Proboscidia, a decided ad- vance in both brain-structure and reproductive system is evident. The hemispheres increase in size, and they become convoluted. A uterus is formed, and the testes become external, etc. In the Quadrumana and An- thropomorpha the culmination in these parts of the structure is reached, excepting only that, in the lack of separation of the genital and urinary efferent ducts, the males are inferior to those of many of the Artio- dactyla. This history displays a rising scale for the Mammalia.2 1 Proceedings American Philosoph. Society, 1884, p. 43. Antea, p. 87. 2 See the evidence for evolution in the history of the extinct Mammalia. Proceedings of 'the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1883. PHYLOGENY. 133 Looking at the skeleton, we observe the following successional modifications : First, as to the feet, and (A) the digits. The Con- dylarthra have five digits on both feet, and they are plantigrade. This character is retained in their de- scendants of the lines of Anthropomorpha, Quadru- mana, and Hyracoidea, also in the Bunotheria, Eden- tata, and most of the Glires. In some of the Amblypoda and in the Proboscidia the palm and heel are a little raised. In the Carnivora and Diplarthra the heel is raised, often very high, above the ground, and the number of toes is diminished, as is well known, to two in the Artiodactyla and one in the Perissodactyla. (B) The tarsus and carpus. In the Condylarthra and most of the Creodonta the bones of the two series in the carpus and tarsus are opposite each other, so as to form continuous and separate longitudinal series of bones. This continues to be the case in the Hyracoi- dea and many of the Quadrumana, but in the anthro- poid apes and man the second row is displaced inwards so as to alternate with the first row, thus interrupting the series in the longitudinal direction, and forming a stronger structure than that of the Condylarthra. In the bunotherian, rodent, and edentate series, the tar- sus continues to be without alternation, as in the Con- dylarthra, and is generally identical in the Carnivora. In the hoofed series proper it undergoes change. In the Proboscidia the carpus continues linear, while the tarsus alternates. In the Amblypoda the tarsus alter- nates in another fashion, and the carpal bones are on the inner side linear, and on the outer side alternating. The complete interlocking by universal alternation of the two carpal series is only found in the Diplarthra. (C) As to the ankle-joint. In most of the Condylarthra - r,-'=as^.:., \j. s^^g ^;, .^ PHYLOGENY. 135 it is a flat joint or not tongued or grooved. In most of the Carnivora, in a few Glires, and in all Diplar- thra, it is deeply tongued and grooved, forming a more perfect and stronger joint than in the other orders, where the surfaces of the tibia and astragalus are flat. (D) In the highest forms of the Rodentia and Diplar- thra the fibula and ulna become more or less coossified with the tibia and radius, and their middle portions become attenuated or disappear. Secondly, as regards the vertebrae. The mutual articulations (zygapophyses) in the Condylarthra have flat and nearly horizontal surfaces. In higher forms, especially of the ungulate series, they become curved, the posterior turning upward and outward, and the an- terior embracing them on the external side. In the higher Diplarthra this curvature is followed by another curvature of the postzygapophysis upward and out- ward, so that the vertical section of the face of this process is an S. Thus is formed a very close and se- cure joint, such as is nowhere seen in any other Verte- brata. Thirdly, as regards the dentition. Of the two types of Monotremata, the Tachyglossus, and the Platy- pus, the known genera of the former possess no teeth, and the known genus of the latter possesses only a single corneous epidermic grinder succeeding two de- ciduous molars, like those of certain extinct forms, in each jaw. As the theromorous reptiles from which these are descended have well-developed teeth, their condition is evidently one of degeneration. We prob- ably have their ancestors in the Multituberculata, which range from Triassic to lower Eocene time in both hemispheres. In the marsupial order we have a great range of dental structure, which almost epito- 136 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. mizes that of the monodelph orders. The dentition of the carnivorous forms is creodont ; that of the kan- garoos is perissodactyle, and that of the wombats is rodent. Other forms repeat the Insectivora. I there- fore consider the placental series especially. I have already shown that the greater number of the types of this series have derived the characters of their molar teeth from the stages of the following succession. First, a simple cone or reptilian crown, alternating with that of the other jaw. Second, a cone with an- terior and posterior lateral denticles. Third, the den- ticles rotated to the inner side of the crown below, and outer side above forming with the principal (median) cone a three-sided prism, with tritubercular apex, which alternates with that of the opposite jaw. Fourth, development of a heel projecting from the posterior base of the lower jaw, which, in mastication, meets the crown of the superior, forming a tubercular-sec- torial inferior molar. From this stage the carnivorous and sectorial dentition is derived, the tritubercular type being retained. Fifth, the development of a pos- terior inner cusp in the superior molar, and the eleva- tion of the heel in the inferior molar, with the loss of the anterior inner cusp. Thus the molars become qua- dritubercular, and opposite. This is the type of many of the Taxeopoda, including the Quadrumana and In- sectivora as well as the inferior Diplarthra. The higher Taxeopoda (Hyracoidea) and Diplarthra add various complexities. Thus the tubercles become flattened and then concave, so as to form V's in the section pro- duced by wearing ; or they are joined by cross-folds, forming various patterns, of which the most special- ized is that of the horse. In the Proboscidia the latter PHYLOGENY. 137 A B Fig. 37. — A, Phenacodus primcevus, fore and hind limbs ; B, Homo sapiens, fore and hind limbs. 138 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. become multiplied so as to produce numerous cross- crests. The molars of some of the Sirenia are like that of some of the Ungulata, especially of the tapirine group, while in others the teeth consist of cylinders. In the Cetaceathe molars of the oldest (Eocene and Miocene) types are but two-rooted and compressed, having much the form of the premolars of other Mammalia. In ex- isting forms a few have simple conical teeth, while in a considerable number teeth are entirely wanting. g. General Review of the Phylogeny of Mammalia. In the accompanying table some of the characters of the mammalian skeleton above described are thrown into a tabular form. They are exhibited in the order of their appearance in geological time, beginning with the oldest horizon at the bottom of the left-hand col- umn. Continued primitive types are enclosed in brack- ets. These relations were pointed out by me in I883,1 and every discovery made since that date has confirmed their correctness. Some characters of the Mesozoic Mammalia are now added. Paleontology has cleared up the phylogeny of most of the mammalian orders, but some of them remain as yet unexplained. This is the case with the Cetacea, the Sirenia, and the Edentata. The Marsupialia can be supposed with much probability to have come off from the Monotremata, but there is but little paleon- tological evidence to sustain the hypothesis. Little progress has been made in unravelling the phylogeny 1 Proceedings American Assoc. Adv. Science, p. 40. The successional gra- dation in the limbs and teeth was announced by me in 1873 (Proceeds. Acad- emy Philadelphia, p. 371, and Journal of the Academy, 1874, p. 20), and that in the size of the hemispheres of the brain by Marsh in 1874 (American Journal Sci. Arts, p. 66). PHYLOGENY. 139 1 CO • | T3 *t^ 6 6 C G CD •"• « c S = i U3 J> VI £> en en 01 55 o ^ O CJ f \ . _ ca r- BRAIN. Hemisphere c o u CO Td' CuC CO !•< -*J ni 3 Hemisphere G 0 o D T3 )-> 4-1 rt 3 Hemisphere small ; and CO ao Hemisphere small. CO u en 0 G C -G O 'c "^ "a 0 1 0 times expc Mesencephal exposed ; li spheres sm and smoot' CO CO VH G Q O ..-( b>> .^ »^« &. ^» ^ >^ ^ *^ ^ . . .^^ ^ pj_^ ^, _Q cue ^_ 0) CD — cu p ^ ajo M G ac C c ac c o C C o G ca rt G ca N Q CO c/5 P CO (75 E PH CO E G G G ? u 1^ K rrt ca rt ca rt -4 ^ co rt ca « SUPERIO MOLARS ubercles, rested an emented. ubercles, rested. ubercles, rested. ubercles. ubercles, rested. ubercles. ubercles, ew crestei ubercles. tubercles one crest itubercul itubercul iconodon otodont. •*— i CJ O *J o V ° +j 4~J (J — ' — )"! 1 •*— ' ~ ^^ ** "" W •* •* Tj- CO 1 1 *^" cO CO — h hho. in T) -a ^ • ^ jC3 • • ^ r~) n in | 1 i 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 1 1 i I 1 1 1 x^| O M M CO ••*• IO N co •*• CO Tj- "*• CO ^- •* m -3- -*i- in in H ^^ --7. ^ en r^4 ^~^~ 0) . — . £3 FORMATION RECENT .. MIOCENE. per (Loup For oi •5 rt P C o • fH OJ It EOCENE .. idle (Bridger.) wer (Wasatch. CRETACEO per (Puerco.) (Laramie. J URASSIC. TRIASSIC . a • •H 0 .— o a p J5 H) ^ P i4o PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. of the Cetacea and Sirenia. The results attained by the study of the paleontology of the other orders may be summarized as follows : First. It is probable that the common ancestors of the placental and implacental lines of Mammalia are known to us in some of the types of the Jurassic per- iod. Whether they were marsupial in the sense of possessing an external pouch for the young or not, is immaterial. They were probably marsupial in brain characters, in the structure of their reproductive sys- tem, and in the absence of placenta. To this source the existing polyprotodont marsupials may be traced, through such forms as Myrmecobius. The multi- tuberculate type has a contemporary history, and one distinct from that of the Polyprotodontia, and its an- cestry has not yet been discovered. Their earliest forms (of the Jurassic and Triassic) are already highly specialized. They probably represent the Monotre- mata of their time. Second. The immediate didelphian ancestors of the monodelphous Mammalia have not yet been certainly discovered. In the oldest of the latter (of the Puerco epoch) numerous points of approach to the insectivo- rous Jurassic forms occur, especially in the prevalent trituberculy of the molars in both epochs. Third. The phylogeny of the clawed group has been traced back to a common ordinal form which has been called the Bunotheria. Of these the most genera- lized are the Creodonta, from which we may trace the Carnivora, the Insectivora, and the Tillodonta, and probably all other Unguiculata. The Ancylopoda only have undergone the alternation of the carpal and tar- sal bones, which obtains in the diplarthrous Ungulata. Fourth. The phylogeny of the hoofed groups car- PHYLOGENY. 141 ries us back to the order Condylarthra, the hoofed cotemporary of the Bunotheria. The even and odd toed hoofed mammals are traceable back to the Am- blypoda, whose oldest representatives are the Panto- donta of the Puerco. The Proboscidia and Hyracoidea come directly from the Condylarthra. Moreover, the phalanges of the lemurs are not distinguishable by any important characters from the hoofs of the Hyracoidea and Condylarthra. Not only this, but the structure of the foot in these three groups is identical in regard to the mode of articulation of the first and second rows of the tarsal and carpal boneSc Fifth. The characters of the feet of the Condylar- thra agree with those of unguiculate placental Mam- malia, and bind the two series together. The synthesis of the ungulate and unguiculate lines is accomplished by exceptions to the characters which define them. Thus the hoofs of Pantolambda (Amblypoda), Peripty- chus (Condylarthra), and Mesonyx (Creodonta) do not differ by any marked character. Claws occur in the Hapalidae of the quadrumanous line, and the ungues of some Glires are absolutely intermediate between the hoofs and claws. Many Edentata have claws on the fore feet and hoofs on the hind feet. The Condy- larthra with tritubercular molar teeth are then trace- able to Bunotheria with tritubercular teeth, of which many are known from the Puerco beds ; and the quadri- tubercular forms from corresponding quadritubercular or tritubercular Bunotheria, of which latter, some are known. Sixth. The anthropoid line may be traced directly through the lemurs to the Condylarthra. The changes which have taken place in the skeleton are slight, and I42 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. consist among other points in a rotation of the second row of carpal bones inwards on the first row, in the anthropoid apes and man, similar to that which has occurred among the Ungulata, but it has not become so pronounced. As a result we get the general phylogenetic scheme as shown on the following page. In this diagram, divisions of greater and lesser rank are mixed, so as to display better some of the relation- ships. Thus all the divisions whose names stand on the right side of the middle vertical line are unguicu- lates ; and those on the left side of the line, excepting Sirenia and Cetacea, are ungulates. The three names in the middle vertical line are those of the suborders of the Taxeopoda. A review of the characters of the existing Mam- malia as compared with those of their extinct ances- tors displays a great deal of improvement in many ways, and but few instances of retrogression. The succession in time of the Monotremata, the Marsupia- lia, and the Monodelphia, is a succession of advance in all the characters of the soft parts and of the skele- ton which define them (see table of classification). As to the monotremes themselves, it is more than prob- able that the order has degenerated in some respects in producing the existing types. The history of the Monotremata is not made out, but the earliest forms of which we know the skeleton, Polymastodon (Cope) of the Lower Eocene, is as specialized as the most specialized recent forms. The dentition of the Juras- sic forms, Plagiaulax, etc., is quite specialized also, but not more so than that of the kangaroos. The pre- molars are more specialized, the true molars less spe- cialized than in those animals. The history of Marsu- PHYLOGENY. 2 U O o w u z u u o t/i D o w u w u o < o NGUIC H < „} O O 144 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. pialia indicates that the primitive types were all in- sectivorous, and possessed a larger number of molars than any of the recent forms. The latter have then followed the same course as the placentals in the re- duction of the number of teeth and specialization of those that remain. Coming to the Monodelphia, the increase in the size and complication of the brain, both of the cere- bellum and the hemispheres, is a remarkable evidence of advance. But one retrogressive line in this respect is known, viz., that of the order Amblypoda,1 where the brain has become relatively smaller with the pas- sage of time. The successive changes in the structure of the feet are all in one direction, viz., in the reduc- tion of the number of the toes, the elevation of the heel, and the creation of tongue and groove joints where plain surfaces had previously existed. The diminution in the number of toes might be regarded as a degeneracy, but the loss is accompanied by a pro- portional gain in the size of the toes that remain. In every respect the progressive change in the feet is an advance. In the carpus and tarsus we have a gradual extension of the second row of bones on the first, to the inner side. In the highest and latest orders this pro- cess is most complete, and, as it results in a more perfect mechanical arrangement, the change is clearly an advance. The same progressive improvement is seen in the development of distinct facets in the cubito- carpal articulation, and of a tongue and groove ("troch- lear crest") in the elbow-joint. In the vertebrae the development of the interlocking zygapophysial articu- lations is a clear advance. Progress is generally noticeable in the dental struc- ISee Naturalist, Jan., 1885, p. 55. PHYLOGENY. 145 tures ; for, the earliest dentitions are the most simple, and the later the more complex. Some of the types retain the primitive tritubercular molars, as the Cente- tidae, shrews, and some lemurs, and most Carnivora (above), but the quadritubercular and its derivative forms are by far the most common type in the recent fauna. The forms that produced the complicated mod- ifications in the Proboscidia and Diplarthra appeared latest in time, and the most complex genera, Elephas, Bos, and Equus, the latest of all. The extreme sec- torial modifications of the tritubercular type, as seen in the Hyaenidas and the Felidae, are the latest of their line also. Some cases of degeneracy are, however, apparent in the monodelphous Mammalia. The loss of pelvis and posterior limbs in the two mutilate orders is clearly a degenerate character, since there can be no doubt that they have descended from forms with those parts of the skeleton present. The reduction of flexibility seen in the limbs of the Sirenia and the loss of this charac- ter in the fore limbs of the Cetacea are features of de- generacy for the same reason. The teeth in both or- ders have undergone degenerate evolution ; in the later and existing forms of the Cetacea even to extinction. The Edentata have undergone degeneration. This is chiefly apparent in the teeth, which are deprived of enamel, and which are wanting from the premaxillary bone. A suborder of the Bunotheria, the Tillodonta of the Lower Eocene period, display a great reduc- tion of enamel on the molar teeth, so that in much- worn examples it appears to be wanting. Its place is taken by an extensive coat of cementum, as is seen in Edentata, and the roots of the teeth are often undi- vided as in that order. 146 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. Local or sporadic cases of degenerate loss of parts are seen in various parts of the mammalian series, such as toothless Mammalia wherever they occur. Such are cases where the teeth become extremely simple, as in the honey-eating masupialTarsipes, the carnivore Proteles, the pteropod bats, and the aye-aye. Also where teeth are lost from the series, as in the canine genus Dysodus, and in man. The loss of the hallux and pollex without corresponding gain, in various gen- era, may be regarded in the same light. In conclusion, the progressive may be compared with the retrogressive evolution of the Vertebrata, as follows : In the earlier periods and with the lower forms, retrogressive evolution predominated. In the higher classes progressive evolution has predominated. When we consider the history of the first class of ver- tebrates, the Tunicata, in this respect, and compare it with that of the last class, the Mammalia, the con- trast is very great. //. The Phylogeny of the Horse. As an example of special phylogeny I select that of the horse, because it is the most completely repre- sented by specimens in our museums. I have already pointed out that the alternate type of carpus and tarsus of the Diplarthra has been derived from the linear of the Taxeopoda by a displacement inwards of the bones of their second rows. In the pos- terior foot this has changed the convex surface of the head of the astragalus into a bifacetted face. Thus was the condylarthrous astragalus modified into that of the Diplarthra. At the beginning of the line of the horses we find the condylarthrous genus of the Wasatch Eocene, Phenacodus Cope, to differ in this PHYLOGENY. 147 way from the perissodactylous genus Hyracotherium Owen. Phenacodontidae are indicated as the ances- tors of all the Ungulata by their character as "buno- dont pentadactyle plantigrades," characters in which they agree with the ancestors of all placental mam- mals. That they are not the ancestors of all the latter is shown by the fact that their molar type is quadritu- bercular; but one has to go backwards but a short distance in time to the Puerco epoch, to find their tri- tubercular ancestors. Between these and Phenaco- dus, comes the quadritubercular genus Euprotogonia Cope, of the Puerco, which has simpler premolar teeth. Between Phenacodus and Hyracotherium there is room for two or more genera with fully facetted car- pals and tarsals, longer feet, and a rudimental first toe on the anterior foot, and first and fifth toes on the hind foot. In Hyracotherium these digits have disappeared. Further, in Hyracotherium the internal cusps of the molars are more or less connected with the external by low and indistinct ridges, which in the superior molars include the small intermediate tubercles or eonules. Thus is the lophodont dentition foreshad- owed. Hyracotherium was a contemporary of Phe- nacodus and continued later in Eocene time. Some of its forms developed an increased complexity of the last premolars in both jaws, forming the genus Pliolo- phus, and foreshadowing the development of molar- like premolars, which is so characteristic of the later members of the horse line. In the genus Epihippus Marsh, of one epoch later in time (the Uinta), two such premolars are developed in each jaw. We have seen very short interspaces next the canine teeth in Phenacodus, and these have become longer in Hyra- cotherium and Epihippus. 148 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. With the opening of the Neocene age, we have the descendant of Epihippus in Mesohippus Marsh, which differs from its predecessor as follows. There are but three toes on all the feet ; three premolars resemble the true molars ; the crests which connect the internal pair of cusps with the external in both jaws, are much more elevated, and soon form on wearing a part of the pattern of the crown. Hyracotherium already walked on the ends of its toes, and the feet of Mesohippus continue the character. The crowns of all the molars are short like those of its ancestors. In the Middle Neocene formations we have the genus Anchitherium Kaup, where the incisor teeth show the addition of a ridge or cingulum round the inner side, which bounds a cup ; forming the cupped incisors so characteristic of the horses. The species have been all the while growing gradually larger. Towards the end of Neocene time important pro- gress was made. In the Loup Fork epoch the three toed horses were very numerous in species, but their lateral toes were all much shortened so that they did not reach the ground. The crests of the molar teeth were much stronger, and in the superior series the conules had assumed a greater importance, extending themselves posteriorly from the transverse crests, and showing crescentic sections, resembling those of the outer cusps, with which they are parallel. The an- terior conule extended so far posteriorly as to join the posterior one, resembling in this respect also the an- terior external cusp. So the crown came to have six modified cusps of which the two inner are the smallest and remain unconnected with each other. The crowns of the molars vary in length in these later three-toed horses. Some are short like the Anchitheriums, and PHYLOGENY. 149 others are longer, approaching the true horses. In the valleys between these high cusps cement is deposited, as in the true horses and other mammals with long- crowned molars. There are two types of these later three-toed horses. In one the posterior inner cusp is not joined to the conule by a transverse crest (genus Hippotherium Kaup), or it is so joined (genus Pro- thippus Leidy). Plistocene times witnessed the perfection of the horse line. The lateral toes dwindled into splints concealed beneath the skin. The crowns of the molar teeth became very long, and in the upper jaw the inner posterior tubercle, now a column, joined the adjacent conule, and became extended very much in fore and aft diameter. The small anterior premolar disap- peared, and the canines became the mark of the male sex only, in general. The lower molars acquire some additional complications, and the feet are longer than in any of its ancestors. The genus Equus L. is fin- ished, and remains a permanent member of the human epoch, from which its only relatives, the rhinoceros and the tapir, are gradually disappearing. This history may be duplicated in manner and mode, by the lines of the camels, the dogs and bears, the cats, the beaver, etc. Examination of all these genealogical lines reveals a certain defmiteness of end and directness of approach. We discover no accessions of characters which are afterwards lost, as would naturally occur as a result of undirected variation. Nor do we discover anything like the appearance of sports along the line, the word sport being used in the sense of a variation widely di- vergent from its immediate ancestor. On the con- trary, the more thorough becomes our knowledge of 1 50 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. the series, the more evident does it become that pro- gressive evolution has advanced by minute increments along a definite line, and that variations off this line have not exerted an appreciable influence on the re- sult. /. The Phylogeny of Man. In* man the feet retain the pentadactyle plantigrade type with scarcely grooved astragalo-tibial articula- tion, which characterizes the Mammalia of the Puerco epoch, and most of those of the Lower Eocene.1 His dentition is not lophodont, but is simply bunodont, like that of the Phenacodontidae of the Lower Eocene. It is only in the structure of the brain and the reproduc- tive system that man shows an advance over the Eocene type. In the former he greatly excels any mammal that has appeared since ; a superiority already apparent in one of his early ancestors, the anaptamorphous lemur of the Lower Eocene. In the reproductive system he is about on a par with the higher Artiodactyla, although the male, in the persistent union of the genital and urin- ary efferent ducts is not so much specialized as some of the latter, where they are distinct. It is an interesting fact that man displays in his dentition strong tenden- cies to a greater specialization by simplification beyond the ordinary quadrumanous type, by reduction in the number of the true molars and incisors. Thus the M.-is not ^infrequently absent in the highest races, and some families display a rudimental condition and absence of the I.£. Much importance attaches to the composition of the molar dentition. Many years ago, Owen2 called IThis fact was first pointed out by myself in the Penn Monthly Magazine, 1875 ; see Origin of the Fittest, p. 268. t-Odontograpky, 1840-5, p. 454. PHYLOGENY. attention to the fact that in the dark races the roots of the last superior molar are distinct from each other, while in the Indo-Europeans they are known to be a Fig. 38. — Fig a, skull of Anaptomorphus homnnculiis Cope, natural size. Fig. /'. same, oblique view, displaying the large cerebral hemispheres. Fig. c, superior view of skull, natural size. Fig. d, inferior view, three-halves natural size. Lower figs, a, b, and c, left branch of lower jaw &i Anaptomorphus (entu- IKS Cope, twice natural size; a, from left side; /', inner side; c, from above. more or less fused together. These now well-known characteristics of human dentition constitute one of the examples of transition from a simian to a human 152 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. type. I have pointed out a corresponding modifica- tion in the structure of the crown of the superior true molars, viz. : the transition from a quadritubercular to a tritubercular structure in passing from the lower to the higher races. As this point has some interesting im- plications in the earlier phylogeny of man, and as its value has been disputed, I give it a little attention. The facts of the case are as follows : I have dem- onstrated1 the fact that all forms of dentition exhibited by the eutherian mammals have been derived from a primitive tritubercular type. Professor Osborn says that he expects to be able to do the same for the multi- tuberculate (? Prototherian) dentition. I have also shown that man exhibits a tendency to revert from his primitive quadritubercular molar to this tritubercular type.2 As to the significance of these facts, I have expressed the view that this acquisition of a tritubercu- lar molar is a reversion to the lemurine type. This conclusion is necessary because the lemurs are the last of the families in the line of the ancestry of man which present this dentition. The monkeys and anthropoid apes are all quadritubercular, except a few limited col- lateral branches of the former, which still retain the lemurine type. There are also a few collateral types of lemurs which have acquired one or more quadri- tubercular molars, but they are not typical. In many tritubercular mammals, a precocious form or two can be found, which has acquired the fourth tubercle. But the further back we go in time, the fewer they become, until, in the Puerco fauna, of eighty-two species of 1 Proceeds. Amer. Philos. Soc., Dec., 1883 ; Origin of the Fittest, 1887, pp 245, 347, 359- "^American Journal of Morphology, II., iSBS, p. 7. PHYLOGENY. 153 eutherian mammals, but four have true quadritubercu- lar superior molars. I take this opportunity of saying, however, that re- version is not necessarily a result of heredity. It may be simply a retrogression on a line of advance already laid down. What influence lemurine heredity may have had in the case of man, it is not easy to know. But it must be borne in mind that various forms of degeneracy of molar teeth are possible other than the resumption of the tritubercular type, yet the normal reduction generally presented is just this lemurine and primitive eutherian condition. The simplicity of the elements involved, has something, but not everything, to do with this reversion. Dr. Paul Topinard has made an investigation 1 of the characters of the crowns of the molars in man, and has reached general conclusions identical with my own. He remarks (p. 665): "It is demonstrated, in conclu- sion, that the teeth of man are, at present, in process of transformation, and that in some future which is re- mote the inferior molars shall certainly be quadri- cuspid, and the superior molars tricuspid. It will be curious to have the statistics as to prehistoric man ; unfortunately, their crania are rare, and their molars generally much worn.'3 In the details of his examina- tion, there are some divergencies from my results. Thus he finds the quadritubercular second and third superior molar relatively of more frequent occurrence in Europeans than I did. But the absence of Europeo- Americans from his tables reduces the percentage of trituberculars in the Indo- Europeans. He makes no report of Esquimaux. Had he observed this type, he would have found a higher per cent, of tritubercular %DAnthro$ologie, 1892^.641 (Nov., Dec.). 154 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. upper molars than in any race that he has recorded. He confirms my conclusion as to the high percentage of quadritubercular superior molars in the Malays, Polynesians, and Melanesians. The relation of this fact to phylogeny is to confirm Haeckel's hypothesis of the lemurine ancestry of man. I have advanced the further hypothesis that the An- thropomorpha (which include man and the anthropoid apes) have been derived directly from the lemurs, with- out passing through the monkeys proper. This close association of man with the apes, is based on various considerations. One of them is that the skeleton of the anthropoid apes more nearly resembles that of man in the most important respects than it does that of the monkeys. This is especially true of the verte- bral column, where the anapophyses are wanting in the Anthropomorpha (insignificant rudiments remain- ing on one or two vertebrae, as pointed out by Mivart), while they are well developed in the monkeys and lemurs. The molar teeth of the apes and man resem- ble each other more than either do those of the mon- keys, since they lack the crests which connect the cusps, which are general in the latter. The frequent presence of the tritubercular molar in man suggests the superior claim of the lemurs over the monkeys to the position of ancestor. Another signifi- cant fact pointing in the same direction is the existence of large-brained lemurs with a very anthropoid denti- tion (Anaptomorphidae) in our Eocene beds, which have the dental formula of man and the Old World monkeys and apes. This resemblance is very remarkable, much exceeding that lately observed by Ameghino in certain extinct forms of monkeys in Patagonia, which appear to be ancestors of the existing South American mon- PHYLOGENY. 155 keys (Cebidae), and possibly of the Old World monkeys also. The superior molars of the Anaptomorphus are tritubercular, while the premolars, canines, and in- cisors are essentially anthropomorphous, and rather human than simian. Anaptomorphus is probably at the same time the ancestor of the Malaysian lemurine genus Tarsius, and M. Topinard remarks that Tarsius has as good claims to be regarded as ancestral to Homo as Anaptomorphus. But M. Topinard must be aware that in the existing genus the character of the canine and incisive dentition is very unlike that of the Anaptomorphus and Homo. It is specialized in a different direction. The dentition of Anaptomorphus being so generalized as compared with Tarsius, I sus- pect that its skeleton will be found to present corre- sponding characters. Of course, if it be found here- after to have the foot structure of Tarsius (which I do not anticipate), it cannot be included in the ancestry of the Anthropomorpha. It must be further observed that the ancestral line of the Anthropomorpha cannot be traced through any existing type of Lemuridae, but through the extinct forms of the Eocene period.1 This is on account of the peculiar specialization of the inferior canines, which are incisor-like, and because of the peculiar character of the incisors themselves, in the modern lemurs in the restricted sense. But we have numerous lemurine types of the Eocene of both America and Europe which satisfy the conditions exactly, so far as the den- tition is concerned. These are mostly referable to the family Adapidae. Unfortunately, we do not know the entire skeletons 1 On the Primitive Types of the Orders of the Mammalia Educabilia, 1873, p. 8. 156 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. of these Eocene lemurs, but as far as we have them (genera Tomitherium and Adapis) they are monkey- like. But we have what is almost as useful, the skel- eton of their Eocene and Puerco ancestors, the Con- dylarthra. I long since pointed out that the latter order (not the genus Phenacodus, as Lydekker has ae pe Fig- 39 — Tomitherium rostratum Cope, one of the Adapidae, mandible, natural size; a, from left side; b, from above. Original, from Report U. S. Geol. Survey Terrs., Vol. III. represented me as saying) must be the ancestors of the lemurs, basing my views expressly on the general structure of the Phenacodus, Periptychus, and Menis- cotherium. The structure of the ungual phalanges of Periptychus is very significant, and even more so is that in Meniscotherium, as recently shown by Marsh, PHYLOGENY. who adopts (without credit) my hypothesis of lemurine affinities of the Condylarthra (which he renames the Mesodactyla). From Condylarthra back to Creodonta is an easy transition, and I have always assumed that the Creodonta were derived from generalized polypro- todont Mursupialia. This view has been entirely confirmed by the recent discoveries of Ame- ghino in Patagonia, where he has found forms whose remains may be referred with equal pro- priety to the one group or the other. M. Topinard has been rather hasty in reaching the marsupial ancestry in suppos- ing that Phenacodus belongs to that order. All the evidence shows that Phenacodus is a generalized ungulate placental. To return to the more im- mediate ancestry of man. I have expressed,1 and now main- tain as a working hypothesis, that all the Anthropomorpha were descended from the Eo- cene lemuroids. In my sys- tem2 the Anthropomorpha in- cludes the two families Homi- nidae and Simiidae. The sole difference between these families is seen in the struc- ture of the posterior foot ; the Simiidae having the "^American Naturalist, 1885, p. 467. 2 Origin of the Fittest, 1887, p. 346, from American Naturalist, 1885, p. 34^, where the classification of the Taxeopoda should be in a foot-note; loc.cit., 1889, October. Fig. 40. — Tomitherium ros- tratum Cope, fore arm, five- sixths natural size. Original, b, ulna; c, radius. 158 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. hallux opposable, while in the Hominidae the hallux is not opposable. This is not a strong character, since it de- pends on a slight differ- ence in the form of the entocuneiform bone. In some vertebrates, as the tree-frogs, the same and similar characters (ge- nus Phyllomedusa) are not regarded as of fam- ily value. It is then highly probable that Homo is descended from some form of the Anthropomorpha now extinct, and probably unknown at present, al- though we do not yet know all the charac- ters of some extinct supposed Simiidae, of which fragments only remain to us. It cannot now be determined whether man and the Simiidae were both de- scended from a genus with opposable hallux, or without opposable / , Or Whether from Fi§- ^•• — Toniithcrium rostratutn Cope, five-sixths natural size; a, ilium; t>, femur. a genus presenting an Original. PHYLOGENY. 159 intermediate character in this respect. This genus was, in any case, distinct from either of the two existing genera of Simiidae, Simia and Hylobates, since these present varied combinations of anthropoid resem- blances and differences, of generic and specific value. Professor Virchow in a late address1 has thrown down the gage to the evolutionary anthropologists by asserting that "scientific anthropology begins with living races," adding "that the first step in the con- struction of the doctrine of transformism will be the explanation of the way the human races have been formed," etc. But the only way of solving the latter problem will be by the discovery of the ancestral races, which are extinct. The ad captandum remarks of the learned professor as to deriving an Aryan from a Negro, etc., remind one of the criticisms directed at the doctrine of evolution when it was first presented to the public, as to a horse never producing a cow, etc. It is well known to Professor Virchow that hu- man races present greater or less approximations to the simian type in various respects. Such are the flat coossified nasal bones of the Bushmen ; the qua- dritubercular molars of the Polynesians ; the flat ilia and prognathous jaws of the Negro ; the flat shin- bones of various races ; the divergent hallux of some aborigines of farther India, etc. Professor Virchow states that the Neanderthal man is a diseased subject, but the disease has evidently not destroyed his race characters ; and in his address he ignores the important and well-authenticated discovery of the man and wo- man of Spy. These observations are reinforced by recent discovery of a similar man by DuBois at Trinil 1 Popular Science Monthly, January, 1893, p. 373, translated. 160 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. in the island of Java. To these ancient people I will now devote some space. What had been long suspected is now established, Fig. ^.—Megaladapis madagascaricnsis Forsyth Major H natural size; lemuroid from Plis- tocene bed of Madagascar, with tritubercular superior molars. From Forsyth Major. through the discovery and descriptions of Messrs. Fraipont and Lohest of Liege ; viz. that there dwelt in Europe during Paleolithic times a race of men which PHYLOGENY. 161 possessed a greater number of simioid characteristics than any which has been discovered elsewhere. The important discovery in the grotto of Spy of two skele- tons, almost complete, served to unify knowledge of this race, which had previously rested on isolated frag- ments only. These skeletons proved what had been previously only surmised, that the lower jaws of Nau- lette, and of Shipka, and probably the skeleton of Neanderthal, belong to one and the same race. The Fig. 43.— Skull of the man of Spy. From Prof. G. F. Wright's Man and the Glacial Period. From a photograph. simian characters of these parts of the skeleton are well known. These are the enormous superciliary ridges and glabella ; the retreating frontal region ; the thickness of the cranial wall ; the massive mandibular ramus with rudimentary chin, and the large size of the posterior molars. Messrs. Fraipont and Lohest have added other characters to these, viz. : the tibia shorter than in any other known human race ; the sigmoid flexure of the femur ; the divergent curvature of the bones of the fore-arm, and most important, a very 162 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. peculiar form of the posterior face of the mandibular symphysis, already pointed out by Topinard in the jaw of Naulette. On these characters the following re- marks may be made.1 I. The prominent superciliary crests, which are 1 Archives Beiges de Biologie, VII., 1886, p. 731, Gand. PHYLOGENY. 163 characteristic of the Neanderthal race. No existing race presents such a development, neither the Papu- ans, Australians, nor Negroes of any race. But we find the superciliary crests and underlying sinuses identical in adult female orangs and chimpanzees and young male gorillas. In the female chimpanzees the crests are almost inferior in size to those of the man of Spy. II. The retreating forehead of the two crania of Spy is not found in any existing human race, while it is typical of that of Neanderthal. It is characteristic of female orangs and gorillas and of the young males of both species, and of adult males and female chim- panzees. It appears in existing men in rare and iso- lated cases ; [probably as survivals]. III. The prominent transverse superior semicircu- lar crest of the occipital bone is found in existing races among the Fellahs of Africa and the Nigritos. It is characteristic of the Neanderthal skulls, and presents exactly the same characters as the young male and female orang and gorilla and young male and adult female of the chimpanzee. IV. No human race presents the characters of the lower jaw exhibited by those of Spy, Naulette, and Shipka. In this part of their osteology the anthro- poids depart widely from man, the most conspicuous point in the latter being the presence of a chin. Ac- cordingly, the angle formed by the anterior face of the symphysis with the inferior border of the horizontal ramus, is less than a right angle in man, and much more than a right angle in the anthropoids. According to Topinard, this angle in fifteen Parisians is 71.4°; in fifteen African Negroes, 82.2°; in fifteen Neocaledo- nians, 83.9°; in the jaw of Naulette, 94°. In the best 164 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. preserved jaw of Spy the angle is 107°, if measured from the inferior symphysial border, or 90° if meas- B \ M D M D E Fig. 45. — Vertical sections of symphysis mandibuli of gorilla (Fig. A), and orang (Fig. B], of chimpanzee (.Fig. C), of Spy man No. i (Fig. D), and Spy man No. 2 (Fig. E). From Fraipont and Lohest. ured from the inferior border of the ramus. There is no chin in the jaw of the Spy race, and the large angle approaches without nearly equaling that of the PHYLOGENY. 165 anthropoids. But the posterior face of the symphysis presents the most remarkable peculiarity. In the symphysis of the apes (Fig. 54, A, B, C) the posterior border is a continuous slope from the alveolar border to the inferior margin, interrupted by a slight concav- ity below the middle. In the human jaw this line slopes backward to near the middle, where are situated the small tuberosities for the insertion of the genio- glossal muscles. (B in the accompanying figures.) The surface then slopes rapidly forward to pass into the narrow inferior border of the chin (Fig. 46, F, G). In the jaws Naulette and Spy the structure is exactly in- termediate between the two, and quite different from both (Fig. 45, D, E}. It commences above with a pos- terior slope similar to that of the apes, exhibiting what is called by Topinard " internal prognathism," as it appears in the lower human races. The surface then descends abruptly, forming a vertical concavity, which is bounded a considerable distance below by another protuberance, the insertion of the genioglossal muscles. This concavity is not present in the human symphysis, while it is less developed in the simian. The surface then slopes forward, as in the human sym- physis, but this portion is shorter than in human jaws generally. It is represented by a convex face in the simian jaw. This character, taken in connection with the others cited, goes a long way toward justifying the separation of the Neanderthal race as a distant species, as has been done by some author under the name of Homo neanderthalensis. This name is objectionable but must be retained. To these observations Messrs. Fraipont and Lohest add the following. V. The curvature of the ulna and radius, which 1 66 PR IMA RY FAC TORS OF OR GA NIC E VOL UTJOtf. produces a wide interosseous space, is not found in any human race, but is common to the apes. On the con- trary, the shortness of these bones is entirely human. VI. The anterior convexity of the femur, with its round section, is only found among living races among the Nigritos of the Philippine Islands. It is seen in a less degree in femora of Neolithic men, and occasional instances are seen among existing Europeans. It is the normal condition in the apes. VII. The tibia is shorter in its relation to the femur than in any human race, and is more robust than in B F Fig. 46. — Sections of symphysis mandibuli of modern Liegois (Fig. F) and of an ancient Parisian (Fig. G). From Fraipont and Lohest. most of them. This character, with the oval section, while not identical with what is seen in the apes, forms an approximation to it. Messrs. Fraipont and Lohest have pointed out the general characters of the dentition of the man of Spy. They show that the molars increase in size posteriorly to the same extent that they do in the apes, which is the reverse of what is usual in man, where they dimin- ish posteriorly, or, in a few lower races (Australians, etc.), remain equal. They show that the superior mo- lars are all quadritubercular, and that the internal root 2 ens' c_ p' 3 P B N 3 3 3 CL O 3 P 3 O i-ta C/3 P O 1-1 H P cr P 3 V/l "fl P 3 W 3 P 168 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. is distinct in all of them. Through the kindness of M. Lohest I received casts and photographs of these teeth, and I give here figures of the former (Fig. 47), which are more satisfactory than those in the memoir from which I have already quoted so fully, where, in- deed, the grinding faces are not represented at all. The figures accompanying1 show the large size of the last superior molar, which exceeds in its propor- tions those of the corresponding tooth in the chimpan- zee. The fourth tubercle, or hypocone, is especially large. In the male the crowns are more produced posteriorly than in man generally, and remind one of the character seen in the orang. The strong divergence of the internal root of the last molar is shown in No. 2 a, and the corresponding character in a Maori and a Fan from tropical Africa is shown in Nos. 3 and 5 a. The quadritubercular crown of the last superior molar of a Tahitian is shown in No. 4 a ; and the roots, which are exceptionally fused nearly as much as in the typi- cal Indo-European, are shown in No. 4. Dr. Eugene Dubois of the Army of the Netherlands has recently published in Batavia, Java, in a brochure in quarto, an account of some bones of an interesting quadrumanous mammal allied to man, which were found in a sedimentary bed of material of volcanic ori- gin of probably Plistocene age, near a village called Trinil. The remains consist of a calvarium which in- cludes the supraorbital ridges and a part of the occi- put ; a last superior upper molar, and a femur. The tooth was found close to the skull and belongs probably to the same individual as the latter, while the reference of the femur is more uncertain, as it was found some fifty feet distant. IFrom The American Naturalist, April, 1893. PHYLOGENY. 169 The characters of the skull are closely similar to those of the men of Neanderthal and of Spy, but the walls are not so thick as those of the former, and more nearly resemble those of the latter. The frontal region is, therefore, much depressed, and it is also much con- stricted posterior to the postorbital borders. The su- tures are obliterated. Dr. Dubois states that the cranial capacity is just double that of the gorilla, and two-thirds that of the lowest normal of man, bridging the gap which has long separated the latter from the apes. Thus the capacity of the former is 500 cubic centime- tres, and the latter is 1500 cubic centimetres. In the Java man the capacity is 1000 cubic centimetres. The last upper molar has widely divergent roots, as in apes and inferior races of man, and the crown is large, with the cusps not clearly differentiated, showing a character commonly observed in the lower molars of the gorilla. The femur is long, straight, and entirely human. This discovery of Dr. Dubois adds to our knowledge of the physical characters of the Paleolithic man, and espe- cially to his geographical range. As regards the proper appellation of this being, Dr. Dubois is not happy. He proposes for him a new genus Pithecanthropus (after Haeckel), and even a new family, Pithecanthropidae, without having shown that he is not a member of the genus Homo. It is not certain that he is not an individual of the species Homo neanderthalensis. His cranial capacity is less, it is true, than that of the man of Spy, but Virchow has pointed out that some of the Nigritos possess a remark- ably small cranial capacity, as little as 950 cubic centi- metres, and an inhabitant of New Britain only 860 cubic centimetres, a capacity even smaller than that of the man of Trinil. Until we learn the characters of 170 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. the lower jaw of the latter we shall be in doubt as to whether this individual pertains to the Homo sapiens or the Homo neanderthalensis. The characters of the dentition, cranium, and limbs which have been observed in the Paleolithic man, are not without parallel in existing races, though the char- acters do not generally occur together in the latter. The supposition that all the Paleolithic men so far found are all pathological subjects is not a probable solution of the question, although this type was no doubt subject to pathological conditions such as have been found in the leg-bones of the men of Neanderthal and Trinil. The characters of the symphysis of the lower jaw are quite sufficient to separate the Neander- thal man as a distinct species of the genus Homo.1 This character is not pathological but it is zoological, and places that species between Homo sapiens and the apes. In conclusion, it may be observed that we have in the Homo neanderthalensis a greater number of simian characteristics than exist in any of the known races of the Homo sapiens, although, so far as known, he be- longs to the genus Homo. The posterior foot, so far as preserved, indicates this to be the case. The foot- character, which distinguishes the genera Homo and Simia still remains. There is still, to use the language of Fraipont and Lohest, " an abyss " between the man of Spy and the highest ape ; though, from a zoological point of view, it is not a wide one. The flints which were discovered in the stratum of cave deposit containing the human remains, are of the Paleolithic type known as Mousterien in France, which IThis view was first insisted on in an article on the Genealogy of Man in the American Naturalist, 1893, p. 331. PHYLOGENY. 171 are of later origin than the Chelle'en or older Paleo- lithic. The older Paleolithic man is not yet known. It is interesting to observe that these flints (Mouste- rien) are of the same form as the obsidian implements which I collected at Fossil Lake, in Oregon, with the bones of extinct llamas, horses, elephants, sloth, etc. The animals which accompanied the man of Spy are, Ccelodonta antiquitatis (wooly rhinoceros), Equus ca- ballus, Cervus elaplius, Cervus tarandits, Bos primigenius, Elephas primigenius, Ursus spdceus, Meles taxus, Hycena speltza ; five extinct and four existing species. As the evidence now stands, the most primitive and simian of human races inhabited the Old World. No trace of the Homo neanderthalensis has been found in America. As, however, Paleolithic implements are found in all continents, we may anticipate that this or some similar species of man will be discovered there also. The genealogy of man may be then represented as follows : CLASS & BRANCH Mammalia Reptilia Batrachia Pisces Agnatha Cephalochorda Vermes Coelenterata Protozoa ORDER AND FAMILY. Hominidae Simiidae Adapidag Condylarthra Creodonta Marsupialia polyprotodontia Monotremata Theromora Batrachia Stegocephali Teleostomi Rhipidopterygia Elasmobranchii Ichthyotomi i Leptocardii i i i GEOL. SYSTEM Plistocene Neocene Eocene Cretaceous Jurassic Triassic Carbonic Carbonic Subordinate type nut specified. 172 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. 3. THE LAW OF THE UNSPECIALIZED. The facts cited in the preceding parts of this chap- ter show that the phylogenetic lines have not been continuous, but that they may be represented by a system of dichotomy. In other words, the point of departure of the progressive lines of one period of time has not been from the terminal types of the lines of preceding ages, but from points farther back in the series. Thus it is not the highly developed or spe- cialized plants which have given origin to the animal kingdom, but the lowest forms or Protophyta, which are not distinguishable from the Protozoa. Among animals it is not the specialized Arthropoda or Mol- lusca which present the closest affiliations with the Vertebrata, but the simple Vermes or Tunicata, from which the origin of the latter may be traced. In the Vertebrata it is not the higher fishes (Actinopterygia) which offer the closest points of affinity to the succeed- ing batrachian class, but that more generalized type of the Devonic period, the Rhipidopterygia, which probably occupies that position. The modern types of Batrachia (Urodela, Salientia) have plainly not fur- nished the starting-point for the reptiles, but the an- cient order of the Stegocephali, which are also fish- like, is evidently their source. The Reptilia of the Permian present us with types with fish-like vertebrae (Cotylosauria, Pelycosauria), from which the class Mammalia may be distinctly traced. The later reptiles diverged farther and farther from the mammalian type with the advance of geologic time. The same prin- ciple has been found to be true in tracing the history PHYLOGENY. 173 of the subdivisions of the great classes, in the preceding section. Agassiz and Dana pointed out this fact in taxon- omy, and I expressed it as an evolutionary law under the name of the "Doctrine of the Unspecialized." This describes the fact that the highly developed, or specialized types of one geologic period have not been the parents of the types of succeeding periods, but that the descent has been derived from the less spe- cialized of preceding ages. No better example of this law can be found than man himself, who preserves in his general structure the type that was prevalent dur- ing the Eocene period, adding thereto his superior brain-structure. The validity of this law is due to the fact that the specialized types of all periods have been generally in- capable of adaptation to the changed conditions which characterized the advent of new periods. Changes of climate and food consequent on disturbances of the earth's crust have rendered existence impossible to many plants and animals, and have rendered life pre- carious to others. Such changes have been often espe- cially severe in their effects on species of large size, which required food in large quantities. The results have been degeneracy or extinction. On the other hand plants and animals of unspecialized habits have survived. For instance, plants not especially restricted to definite soils, temperatures, or degrees of humidity, would survive changes in these respects better than those that have been so restricted. Animals of om- nivorous food-habits would survive where those which required special foods, would die. Species of small size would survive a scarcity of food, while large ones would perish. It is true, as observed by Marsh, that 174 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. the lines of descent of Mammalia have originated or been continued through forms of small size. The same is true of all other Vertebrata. It is not to be inferred from the reality of the law of "the unspecialized" that each period has been de- pendent on the simplest of preceding forms of life for its population. Definite progress has been made, and highly specialized characters have been gradually de- veloped, and have passed successfully through the vicissitudes of geologic revolutions. But these have not been the most specialized of their respective ages. They have presented a combination of effective struc- ture with plasticity, which has enabled them to adapt themselves to changed conditions. In a large number of cases in each geologic age forms have been successful in the struggle for existence through the adoption of some mode of life parasitic on other living beings. Such habits reduce the struggle to a minimum, and the result has been always degen- eracy. In other cases it is to be supposed that ex- tremely favorable conditions of food, with absence of enemies, would have occurred, in which the struggle would have been almost nil. Degeneracy would fol- low this condition also. On the other hand, extreme severity of the struggle cannot have been favorable to propagation and survival, so that here also we have a probable cause of degeneracy. Degeneracy is a fact of evolution, as already remarked, and its character is that of an extreme specialization, which has been, like an overperfection of structure, unfavorable to sur- vival. In general, then, it has been the "golden mean" of character which has presented the most favorable condition of survival, in the long run. CHAPTER III.— PARALLELISM. IT IS now generally recognized that the successive types of organic beings present characters which are traversed in the embryonic life of those which at- tain the greatest complexity of development, and which occupy the highest places in the scale of life. This fact was observed by the early embryologists, as Von Baer and Agassiz, who did not admit its bearing on the doctrine of evolution. But Darwin and Spencer understood its significance, and Haeckel, Hyatt, and the writer applied it directly to the explanation of phy- logeny. At the present time one of the chief aims of the science of embryology is to discover the record of the history of the past, recapitulated in the stages of embryonic life, and to unravel the phylogenesis of plants and animals by this method. The utility of these researches is attested by the results which they have attained, though for obvious reasons, these are not as definite and conclusive as those which are de- rived from paleontology. The general conclusion is however justified, i. e., that the records of embryology and paleontology are closely similar, and that any dis- cordance between them may be explained on compre- hensible principles. 1 76 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. A number of illustrations of the parallelism be- tween taxonomy, ontogeny, and phylogeny may now be given. i. PARALLELISM IN THE BRACHIOPODA. For the following abstract I am indebted to Mr. C. E. Beecher of New Haven, whose excellent work in this field is well known. The parallelism between the ontogeny and phy- logeny in the Brachiopoda has been worked out in numerous instances.1 To illustrate these, some more or less familiar genera may be taken as characteristic ex- amples. Lingula has been shown by Hall and Clarke (Pa/. New York, Vol. VIII., 1892) to have had its inception in the Ordovician. In the ontogeny of both recent and fossil forms, the first shelled stage has a straight hinge line, nearly equal in length to the width of the shell. This stage may be correlated with the more ancient genus Paterina from the lowest Cambrian. Subsequent growth produces a form resembling Obolella, a Cam- brian and Ordovician genus. Then the linguloid type of structure appears at an adolescent period, and is completed at maturity. Thus, Lingula has ontogenetic stages corresponding to (i) Paterina, (2) Obolella, and (3) Lingula, of which the first two occur as adult forms in geological formations older than any known Lin- gula. Paterina represents the radicle of the brachiopods. 1C. E. Beecher, "Development of the Brachiopoda," Part I., Introduc- tion, Amcr. Journ, Sci., Vol, XLL, April, 1891 ; " Development of the Brachio- poda," Part II., Classification of the Stages of Growth and Decline, Amer. Jour. Sci., Vol. XLIV., August, 1892 ; "Development of Bilobites," Amer. Jour. Sci., Vol. XLII., July, 1891 ; " Revision of the Families of Loop-bearing Brachiopoda," Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., Vol. IX., May, 1893. PARALLELISM. 177 It shows no separate stages of growth in the shell, is found in the oldest fossiliferous rocks, and corresponds to the embryonic shelled condition (protegulum) of other brachiopods. The genus Orbiculoidea of the Discinidae first ap- pears in the Ordovician and continues through the Mesozoic. The early stages in the ontogeny of an in- dividual are as in Lingula, first a paterina stage, fol- lowed by an obolella stage. Then from the mechan- ical conditions of growth a Schizocrania-like stage follows, and completed growth results in Orbiculoidea. The elongate form of the shell in Lingula, as well as in many other genera, is determined by the length of the pedicle and freedom of motion. The discinoid or discoid of Orbiculoidea and Discinisca among the brachiopods, and Anomia among pelecypods, is deter- mined by the horizontal position of the valves, which are attached to an object of support by a more or less flexible, very short organ, a pedicle or byssus, without calcareous cementation. This mode of growth is char- acteristic of all the discinoid genera, but, as already shown, the early stages of Paleozoic Orbiculoidea have straight hinge lines and marginal beaks, and in the adult stages of the shell the beaks are usually subcen- tral and the growth holoperipheral. This adult disci- noid form, which originated and was acquired through, the conditions of fixation of the animal, has been ac- celerated in the recent Discinisca, so that it appears in a free-swimming larval stage. Thus, a character ac- quired in adolescent and adult stages of Paleozoic spe- cies through the mechanical conditions of growth, ap- pears by acceleration in larval stages of later forms before the assumption of the condition of fixation which first produced this character. 178 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION-. The two chief subfamilies of the Terebratellidse undergo complicated series of metamorphoses in their brachial structure. Generic characters are based upon the form and disposition of the brachia and their sup- ports. The highest genera in one subfamily, which is austral in distribution, pass through stages correlated with the adult structure in the genera Gwynia, Cistella, Bouchardia, Megerlina, Magas, Magasell, and Terebra- tella, and reach their final development in Magellania and Neothyris. The higher genera in another subfam- ily, boreal in distribution, pass through metamorphoses correlated with the adult structures of Gwynia, Cistella, Platidia, Ismenia, Miihlfeldtia, Terebratalia, and Dal- lina. The first two stages in both subfamilies are re- lated in the same manner to Gwynia and Cistella. The subsequent stages are different except the last two, so that the Magellania structure is similar in all respects to the Dallina structure, and Terebratella is like Tere- bratalia. Therefore Magellania and Terebratella are respectively the exact morphological equivalent to, or are in exact parallelism with Dallina and Terebratalia. The stages of growth of the genera belonging to the two subfamilies Dallininas and Magellaniinae are further correlated in the accompanying tables. The simplest genus Gwynia, as far as known, passes through no brachial metamorphoses, and has the same structure throughout the adolescent period, up to and including the mature condition. In the ontogeny of Cistella the gwyniform stage, through acceleration, has become a larval condition. In Platidia, the cistelliform structure is accelerated to the immature period, and in Ismenia (representing an ismeniform type of struc- ture in the higher genera), the gwyniform and cistelli- form stages are larval, and the platidiform represents ^ > r *~^ CL P HH M- O 2 p) C nT P 2 CD en O ft) o o 3 en 1 S IQ <; TO ^ 3_ C/) H ft' Ma O o5 PI !-i •-i en 3 3 Oj n TO £>' en ^ r^ fB *^ (/} ^ P H ^ | . T Ma ^ MS 0 O O i-l PI I-l 3 3 S o en TO g. 2. 3 H3 ft Ma Ma 0 O 1 O 3 i-l 3 P) en ^J cr o JQ rt^ 0 (/) ^3 •8 c 0 0 3 CD x 3" — 8' ft 1-1 CL Ms o I-l O 1-1 3 O M 0° s en i-i 3 { meger! cr o C o 3" - en' M- n TO *-< 3 h^5 C/3 H 5' -1 "•• o 0 •— • M^ i £3 P! *_** MS 3 P en i-t 0 3 3 Magasella magadit'or 3 TO fD 5' bouchardi cistellifor gwyniforn STAGE 3 o5 i-l Ms O 5 M en 3 i • TO ft) 1-1 o C n cr P " <: 3 o° ID ! o5 o° 1 3' c? CL Ma O UIJO 1-1 3 O PI en 3 3 I-l 3 Magella terebral magase = P TO EL 3 fD TO ft) ^ bouchai cistellif TO 3 Hts C/3 H S! 2. Ma O •-I 1' i 3 o5 CL f 0 1-1 3 3 O PJ C i 3 3 3 O O w <*J o O H O O W r r 2 P > CL o_ r P 1-1 C fB S" (n 0 fB < P_ 2 o 3 o en a TO 3 TO 3 O) H s>' o5 o3 0 3 3 M en •-o CistelL o en' gvvynii C/) H s o5 0 en 3 3 n en ft3 o In' TO fS * S; 2. 3 CD H Ms O i-l 3 o5 i-t 3 O W en Ismeni "E CL cistelli gwyni f C/) H ft o5 o5 0 O -1 3 1-1 3 3 M en ta 5? 5> ^ ismeni "E P* r* CL cistelli TO 3 MS C/) H 1 MS o >-i •-^ O I-l -^ o —: O O w •St. ft 3 3 3 en •s 3 UJ' E 2. TO ^ 3 u X ^ •« *"\ *2*_ V! •ebratali llfeldtif en i form idiform elliform niform STAGE ft r- en 1-1 3 Dallina terebratalif miihlfeldtif ismeniform platidiform cistelliform gvvyniform STAGE 0 o en 3 3 M O O o o H O r r i8o PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. an adolescent condition. Similar comparisons may be made in the other genera. Progressively through each series, the adult structure of any genus forms the last immature stage of the next higher, until the highest member in its ontogeny represents serially, in its stages of growth, all the adult structures, with the larval and immature stages of the simpler genera. It is evident that in the identification of specimens belonging to the Terebratellidae, whether recent or fossil, the strict specific characters must be given first consideration. Species, therefore, must be based upon surface orna- ments, form, and color, within certain limits, and gen- era only upon structural features developed through a definite series of changes, the results of which are per- manent in individuals evidently fully adult. In each line of progression in the Terebratellidae, the acceleration of the period of reproduction, by the influence of environment, threw off genera which did not go through the complete series of metamorphoses, but are otherwise fully adult, and even may show re- versional tendencies due to old age ; so that nearly every stage passed through by the higher genera has a fixed representative in a lower genus. Moreover, the lower genera are not merely equivalent to, or in exact parallelism with the early stages of the higher, but they express a permanent type of structure, as far as these genera are concerned, and after reaching ma- turity do not show a tendency to attain higher phases of development, but thicken the shell and cardinal pro- cess, absorb the deltidial plates, and exhibit all the evidences of senility. U -a o V V o u C a! ^^ i— i , Ratio, temporaria, tadpole with budding limbs; c, do., adult, firmis- ternial type ; b and c from Parker. to it is the genus Osteocephalus, which differs in the normal exostosis of the cranium not involving the derm, as it does in the former. Close to this is Scy- topis, where the fully ossified cranium is not covered by an exostosis. Next below Scytopis is Hyla, where the upper surface of the cranium is not ossified at all, but is a membranous roof over a great fontanelle. Still more imperfect is Hylella, which differs from Hyla in the absence of vomerine teeth. Now, the genus Trachy- cephalus, after losing its tail and branchiae, possesses PARALLELISM. 199 all the characters possessed by the genera Hylella and Hyla, either at or just before the mature state of the latter, as the ethmoid bone is not always ossified in advance of the parietals. It soon, however, becomes a Scytopis, next an Osteocephalus, and finally a Tra- chycephalus. It belongs successively to these genera, for an exhaustive anatomical examination has failed to reveal any characters by which, during these stages, it could be distinguished from these genera. The same succession in development of the genera of the other families is well known, the genus Otaspis of the Bu- fonidae attaining a point beyond any of the others, in the enclosure of its membranum tympani posteriorly by dermoossification. Finally reaching in our review the relations of spe- cific characters, the readers will call to mind that the species of the lacertilian genus Cnemidophorus (page 41) are either striped, spotted, or cross-banded, and that the Lacerta muralis agrees with them in this re- spect. It was also shown that the young of all the species are striped, and that the cross-banded forms pass through not only a striped, but an intermediate spotted stage, before attaining the adult coloration. The young of spotted salamanders are without spots (genera Amblystoma and Salamandra e g.) ; so that unspotted species resemble the young of the spotted. In many species of birds of more or less uni- form patterns of coloration, the young are spotted. In some of these the females remain spotted throughout adult life. In some other species both sexes retain the spotted coloration of the young. The young of most deer are spotted. In the fallow-deer (Axis) the adults retain the spotted coloration, thus resembling the young of most of the species. 200 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. 3. INEXACT PARALLELISM OR C^NOGENY. When the early or transitional stage of a higher form is exactly the same as a permanent lower form, the parallelism is said to be " exact." Such is the re- lation of a Cnemidophorus gularis scalar is to a Cnemido- phorus gularis gularis as to color characters ; and of an Amblystoma tigrinum to a permanent breeding Siredon lichenoides in characters of higher structural value. When the transitional stage of the higher only re- sembles the lower form in some one or more features, but not in all, the parallelism is said to be "inexact." It is evident that "exact parallelism " can only exist between ancestor and descendant in the same re- stricted line, and can be therefore only demonstrated in the case of the nearest relatives, between which a £ perfect phylogeny is known. So soon as new subordi- nate characters are assumed, or a change in the order of appearance of characters supervenes, the parallel- ism becomes " inexact," and such is the kind of paral- lelism usually observed. And it is more inexact the more widely removed in relationship are the forms compared. Thus the parallelism between the embryo man with five branchial slits, and the adult shark, is very inexact ; but that between a true fish and a shark is much less inexact. That between a higher and a lower shark is still more exact, and so on. Exact par- allelism in growth is called by Haeckel palingenesis or palingeny. The growth which has, through changes introduced subsequent to the origin of a line of de- scent, become inexact, or "falsified," is termed by the same author caenogenesis or caenogeny. PARALLELISM. 20 1 The superposition of characters which constitutes evolution, means that more numerous characters are possessed by the higher than the lower types. This involves a greater number of changes during the on- togenetic growth of each individual of the higher type. In other words, characters acquired during the phylo- genetic history are continually assumed by the pro- gressive form at earlier and earlier periods of life. This process has been metaphorically termed by Pro- fessor Alpheus Hyatt and myself "acceleration." All progressive organic evolution is by acceleration, as here described. Retrogressive evolution may be ac- complished by a retardation in the rate of growth of the taxonomic characters, so that instead of adding, and accumulating them, those already possessed are gradually dropped ; the adults repeating in a reversed order the progressive series, and approaching more and more the primitive embryonic stages. This pro- cess I have termed " retardation. ); Retardation is not however, always exact, even in retracing a true phylo- genetic line, whence in such instances the process may not be correctly described as retardation. Professor Hyatt has applied to such types the term "senile," and gerontic ; and to the resulting condition, the term "senility. " His observations on this subject have been made on Mollusca, and principally on the Cephalo- poda, and are of fundamental importance in this con- nection. The history of a type which has passed through a full cycle of life, from its earliest appearance to its ex- tinction, is divided by Haeckel into three stages, viz. : those of its rise ; full vigor, as displayed by predomi- nance of variations and numbers; and decadence. For these stages he uses the expressions Anaplasis, 202 PRIM A RY FAC TORS OF OR GA NIC E VOL UTION. Metaplasis, and Cataplasis. For the processes which bring about the first and last of these conditions, Pro- fessor Hyatt has used the terms Anagenesis and Cata- genesis. Catagenesis is equivalent to degeneracy and has played an important part in organic evolution. I had used the term previously to Professor Hyatt for the same process, but with a wider application ; ex- tending its use to inorganic nature as well.1 (See Chapter IV. of this book.) Embryology has, however, revealed another series of phenomena which in many instances obscure the simplicity of the problem of ontogeny as presented in the preceding pages. It was the merit of Haeckel to generalize from the facts brought to light by this sci- ence, so as to present the relations which subsist be- tween the primitive stages of all multicellular animals. This is known as the Gastraea theory. He showed that the primitive gastric cavity of all such animals is produced by an invagination of a portion of the sur- face of a primitive sphere or morula, which results from the segmentation of the oosperm. This hollow half-sphere he termed the gastrula, and the theoretical primitive animal which corresponds to it he called the Gastraea. Marine animals very similar to this Gas- traea have been discovered. Haeckel showed, how- ever, that gastrulas are not all alike, since they differ in the extent to which the segmentation of the oosperm may be carried, and the rate of segmentation of differ- ent parts of it. Thus early do inexact parallelisms arise. From this point onwards special peculiarities of the various developmental lines appear, some of which have especial reference to the necessities of em- bryonic life. Hence the trochosphere stage of so many ^Origin of the Fittest, p. 422. PARALLELISM. 203 invertebrate forms, and the nauplius and zoaea of the Crustacea. Such are the statoblasts which are resting-stages for the embryos of fresh-water sponges and Polyzoa, and the glochidia of the Unionidae, which are wanting in the marine forms of the same orders. Such are the amnion and allantois of certain Vertebrata and the placenta of certain Mammalia, which have no refer- ence to any structures but their own residua, found in the adults of those animals. A remarkable instance of this state of things ap- pears in the history of the evolution of the insects. It is quite impossible to understand this history without believing that the larval and pupal states of the high- est insects are the results of a process of degeneracy which has affected the middle periods of growth, but not the mature results. The earliest insects are the Orthoptera, which have active aggressive larvae and pupae, undergoing the least changes in their meta- morphosis (Ametabola), and never getting beyond the primitive mandibulate condition at the end. The meta- morphosis of the jawed Neuroptera is little more marked, and they are one of the oldest orders. The highest orders with jaws undergo a marked metamorphosis (Coleoptera, Hymenoptera), the Hy- menoptera even requiring artificial intervention in some instances to make it successful. Finally, the most specialized orders, the suctorial Diptera and Lepidoptera, especially the latter, present us with very unprotected more or less parasitic larval stages, both active and inactive. These animals have evidently de- generated, but not so as to prevent their completing a metamorphosis necessary for purposes of reproduction. As is well known, many imagines (Saturniidae, CEstridae) 204 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. can perform no other function, and soon die, while in some Diptera the incomplete larvae themselves repro- duce, so that the metamorphosis is never completed. This history is parallel to that proposed by Dohrn to account for the origin of the Ammoccetes larval stage of the Marsipobranchii. He supposes this form to be more degenerate than the corresponding stage of its probable ancestral type in the ancestral line of the Vertebrata. An inactive life in mud is supposed by Dohrn to have been the effective cause. An inactive life on the leaves of plants, or in dead carcases, has probably been the cause of the same phenomenon in the Lepidoptera and Diptera. Thus we have developed an ontogeny within an ontogeny, and a phylogeny within a phylogeny. These facts do not, however, affect the general result in the least. They on]y show us that the persistent larvae of those animals which possess them, have a history of their own, subject to the same laws of evolution as the adults. It results that in many cases the phy- logeny can only be determined by the discovery and investigation of the ancestors themselves, as they are preserved in the crust of the earth. In all cases this discovery confirms and establishes such definite con- clusions as may be derived from embryology. It is also clear that on the discovery of phylogenetic series it becomes at once possible to determine the nature of defective types. It becomes possible to ascertain whether their rudimental parts represent the begin- nings of organs, or whether they are the result of a process of degeneration of organs once well devel- oped. An excellent illustration of inexact parallelism is to be found on comparison of man with the lower Ver- PARALLELISM. 205 tebrata. I have pointed out1 that in the structure of his extremities and dentition, he agrees with the type of Mammalia prevalent during the Eocene period (cfr. Phenacodus). Hence in these respects he re- sembles the immature stages of those mammals which have undergone special modifications of limbs and ex- tremities, such as Ungulata in which caenogeny has not obliterated the early stages from the embryonic record. These forms are probably extinct. I have also shown2 that in the shape of his head man resem- bles the embryos of all Vertebrata, in the protuberant forehead, and vertical face and jaws. In this part of the structure most Vertebrata have grown farther from the embryonic type than has man, so that the human face may be truly said to be the result of a process of retardation. Nevertheless, in the structure of his ner- vous, circulatory, and for the most part, of his repro- ductive system, man stands at the summit of the Ver- tebrata. It is in those parts of his structure that are necessary to supremacy by force of body only, that man is retarded and embryonic. 5. OBJECTIONS TO THE DOCTRINE OF PARAL- LELISM. An objection to the theory of parallelism in its full sense has been recently put forward by Mr. C. Her- bert Hurst.3 He says, "My object now is to show that in neither case can a record of the variation at any one stage of evolution be preserved in the ontog- eny, much less can the ontogeny come to be a series of l"The Relation of Man to the Tertiary Mammalia," Pcnn Monthly, 1875; Origin of the Fittest, 268. 2 " The Developmental Significance of Human Physiognomy," American Naturalist, June, 1883 ; Origin of the Fittest, 1887, p. 281, 3> Natural Science, 1893, p. 195. 2o6 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. stages representing in proper chronological order some of the stages of adult structure which have been passed through in the course of evolution. " Again: "The early stages of the fish embryo are very like those of the bird embryo. These two do correspond to each other. The statement that the embryonic structure of a bird follows a course which is from beginning to end roughly parallel with, but somewhat divergent from, the course followed by a fish, is borne out by the actual facts. A bird does not develop into a fish and then into a reptile, and then into a bird. There is no fish-stage, no reptile-stage, in its ontogeny. The adult resembles an adult fish only very remotely. Every earlier stage resembles the corresponding earlier stage of the fish more closely. There is a parallelism be- tween the two ontogenies. There is no parallelism be- tween the ontogeny and the phytogeny of either a bird or any other animal whatever. A seeming parallelism will fall through when closely examined." " The promise that this theory gave of serving as the guide to knowl- edge of past history without the labor involved in pale- ontological research, was indeed tempting : and where the royal road to learning has been shown by it, it is not surprising that some zoologists should have entered for the race along this road. To what goal that road has led may be learned by a comparison of the nu- merous theories as to the ancestry of the ' Chordata ' which have been put forward by those who have adopted the theory without enquiring as to its valid- ity." I have made this quotation as showing the point of view from which the doctrine of parallelism when in- correctly stated may be assailed. There is truth in the author's accusation that embryologists who have PARALLELISM. 207 not used their results with proper caution, have been frequently led to incorrect and even absurd results. The errors of this class of biologists are mainly due to their ignorance of species in the adult state, and their ignorance of systematic biology or taxonomy. They profess to regard this branch of the science as only suitable for beginners, and as comparatively unim- portant, as compared with their own ; yet one might as well attempt the study of philology without a knowl- edge of alphabets, as to study phylogeny without the knowledge of natural taxonomy. The correct discrim- ination of species, genera, etc., imposes much greater burdens on the faculty of judgment, than does any- thing to be found in any science which includes obser- vation and record only. But Mr. Hurst's statement is somewhat overdrawn, and he does not give embryolo- gists the credit which is due to their theory of recapitu- lation. I think he will find the following, which I wrote in 1872 l to be a correct statement of the facts, and a fair induction as to principles. "The smaller the number of structural characters which separate two species when adult, the more nearly will the less complete of the series be identical with an incomplete stage of the higher species. As we compare species which are more and more differ- ent, the more necessarily must we confine the asser- tion of parallelism to single parts of the animals, and less to the whole animal. When we reach species as far removed as man and a shark, which are separated by the extent of the series of vertebrated animals, we can only say that the infant man is identical in its nu- merous origins of the arteries from the heart, and in the cartilaginous skeletal tissue, with the class of IFenn Monthly, 1872. Origin of the Fittest, 1887, p. 8. 2o8 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. sharks, and in but few other respects. But the im- portance of this consideration must be seen from the fact that it is on single characters of this kind that the divisions of the zoologist depend. Hence we can say truly that one order is identical with an incomplete stage of another order, though the species of the one may never at the present time bear the same relation in their entirety to the species of the other. Still more frequently can we say that such a genus is the same in character as a stage passed by the next higher genus ; but when we can say this of species, it is because their distinction is almost gone. It will then depend on the opinion of the naturalist as to whether the repressed characters are permanent or not. Parallelism is then reduced to this definition : that each separate charac- ter of every kind, which we find in a species, repre- sents a more or less complete stage of the fullest growth of which the character appears to be capable. In proportion as those characters in one species are contrasted with those of another by reason of their number, by so much must we confine our comparison to the characters alone, and the divisions they repre- sent; but when the contrast is reduced by reason of the fewness of differing characters, so much the more truly can we say that the one species is really a sup- pressed or incomplete form of the other The denial of this principle by the authorities cited has been in consequence of this relation having been assigned to orders and classes, when the statement should have been confined to single characters, and divisions char- acterized by them. There seems, however, to have been a want of exercise of the classifying quality or power of ' abstraction ' of the mind on the part of the objectors." PARALLELISM. 209 It is nevertheless true that the records brought to light by embryologists are very imperfect, and have to be carefully interpreted in order to furnish reliable evi- dence as to the phylogeny of the species examined. An illustration of this is the fact that the species char- acters appear in many embryos before those which de- fine the order or the family, although it is certain that the latter appeared first in the order of time. Most of the important conclusions as to the phylogeny of Ver- tebrata demonstrated by paleontology have never been observed by embryologists in the records of the spe- cies studied by them. Thus I have shown that it is certain that in the amniote vertebrates the intercen- trum of the vertebral column has been replaced by the centrum ; yet no evidence of this fact has been ob- served by an embryologist. If we could study the em- bryonic development of the vertebral column of the Permian and Triassic Reptilia, the transition would be observed, but in recent forms caenogeny has progressed so far that no trace of the stage where the intercentrum existed can be found. Again I have demonstrated by paleontological evi- dence that the lines of the ungulate Mammalia origi- nated from a bunodont pentadactyle plantigrade an- cestor ; but embryonic research has failed to discover the preservation of a record of this fact in the ungu- lates at present existing. The embryo of the horse is not pentadactyle, nor even tridactyle, although tri- dactyle horses persisted late in geologic time. Nor has embryonic research demonstrated a four- toed stage in the Bovidae (oxen, etc.), although there is no doubt that they descended directly from an ancestor so characterized. Any number of similar cases might be cited to show the prevalence of inexact parallelism 2io PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. or caenogeny. If we could study the embryology of the many extinct forms of life, the missing stages would all be found, but as we have not the opportun- ity of pursuing this important research, we have to rely on paleontology for our phylogeny. Paleontology is and always will be imperfect, but all that we get is palingeny, or the phylogeny itself, and not an inverted and distorted record of it. CHAPTER IV.— CATAGENESIS. WE HAVE been principally occupied so far with progressive evolution or anagenesis. Reference has, however, been made to retrogressive evolution or degeneracy, in Chapter III. , in describing the evolution of the Vertebrata, and will be in Chapter V. , under the caption "Disuse in Mammalia. '' Degeneracy has, how- ever, played a more important part in creation than would be suspected from these references, and I pro- pose in the present chapter to go more fully into its phenomena, which, in the broadest sense, I have called collectively Catagenesis. As evidence for degeneracy as a factor in evolution we naturally appeal first to examples in the life histo- ries of plants and animals which are known to us; and then examine the records of the past, in the light thus gained, for evidence of degeneracy in vegetable and animal phylogeny. In both directions we are met by an embarras de richesse, and a few conspicuous cases will have to suffice. The parasitic copepod Crustacea undergo a retro- grade metamorphosis, which commences at different periods of the growth history of different genera. Says Claus : "Many parasitic Copepoda, however, pass 212 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. b over the series of nauplius forms [which are traversed by other copepods] and the larva, as soon as hatched, undergoes a moult, and appears at once in the youngest Cyclops form with antennae adapted for adhering, and mouth -parts for piercing. From this stage they under- go a retrogressive metamorphosis, in which they become attached to a host, lose more or less completely the seg- mentation of the body, which grows irregular in shape, cast off their swim- ming feet, and even lose the eye, which was originally pres- ent (JLerncRapoda). The males, how- ever, in such cases often remain small UWarted, and So. non- Fig. 53.— Lerncea branchialis • a, male ; degenerate female; c, female after fertilization adhere undergoing metamorphosis ; d, do. with egg sacs, natural size. From Claus. . more than One, firmly to the body of the female in the region of the genital opening. In the Lerncea such pigmy males were for a long time vainly sought for upon the very peculiarly shaped body of the large female (Fig. 52), which carries egg-tubes. CA TA GENESIS. 2 1 3 At last it was discovered that the small Cyclops -like males lead an independent life and swim about freely by means of their four pairs of swimming feet, and that the females in their copulatory stage resemble the males, and that it is only after copulation that they (the females) become parasitic and undergo the con- siderable increase in size and modification of form which characterizes the female with egg-tubes." A degeneracy of the females of a remarkable char- acter occurs in the insects of the order Strepsiptera. Here the female during the larval stage, bores its way into the body of a hymenopterous insect and soon un- dergoes a moult. At this time they shed their three pairs of well-developed legs, and become a parasitic maggot, which lives on the body of the host. The males do not undergo this degeneracy but retain the six legs and two pairs of wings common to the class Insecta. A notorious example of degeneracy among the Mol- lusca is offered by the Entoconcha mirabilis. Says J. S. Kingsley : " So greatly has parasitism altered the form of the body, and all of the organs, that the proper position of this form among the gastropods is far from certain, some placing it near Natica. Indeed, were it not for the characters afforded by the young, its posi- tion among the Mollusca would not be suspected. Some thirty years ago [before 1885] Johannes Miiller found in some specimens of Synapta digitata an inter- nal worm-like parasite, attached by one extremity to the alimentary canal, while the other end hung free in the perivisceral cavity." " In one specimen of Syn- apta out of one or two hundred this strange form oc- curs. It is a sac, the upper part bearing the female, and the lower the male reproductive organs, while the 2i4 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. centre of the body serves for a while as a broodpouch, ! the embryos later passing out from an opening at the free end of the body of the parent. The eggs undergo a toler- ably regular develop- ment, producing a velum, shell, and oper- culum, the later stages being found free in the body -cavity of the host." The preceding ex- amples illustrate the degenerating or cata- genetic effect of a parasitic life. We will now observe the cor- responding effect of a sedentary life, which may be called earth- parasitism. As an ex- ample of this I select the well-known case of the lowest of the Vertebrata, the Tuni- o ri t a 53- — A Synapta digit at a with para- sitic Entoconcha ; B, a portion of Synapta, The embryo ascid- vvith Entoconcha (F) enlarged ; a, point of «an ^ag ^Q form of attachment; b, blood vessels; f, female por- tion ; z, intestine ; ;;/, male portion ; me, me- a tadpole-like larva sentery. From Kingsley. which SWimS actively through the sea by vibrating its long tail. After a short free-swimming existence the fully developed, tailed larva fixes itself by its anterior adhering papillae CA TA GEATESfS. 215 to some foreign object, and then undergoes a remark- able series of retrogressive changes, which convert it into the adult ascidian. The tail atrophies, until noth- ing is left but some fatty cells in the posterior part of the trunk. The adhering papillae disappear and are replaced functionally by a growth of the test over neigh- boring objects. The nervous system with its sense- organs atrophies, until it is reduced to the single small ganglion placed on the dorsal edge of the pharynx, and a slight nerve-cord running for a short distance posteriorly. Slight changes in the shape of the body and a further growth and differentiation of the branchial sac, peribranchial cavity, and other organs now pro- duce gradually the structure found in the adult ascid- ian (Herdman). It is, however, to be noted that in the order Larvacea, this retrograde metamorphosis does not take place. It embraces the single family Appendiculariidae, which includes Tunicata which pre- serve the tail, notochord, and other larval features, and lead a free-swimming existence in the ocean. On the Tunicata, Herdman makes the following general observations. " (i) In the ascidian embryo all the more important organs (e. g. notochord, neural canal, archenteron) are formed in essentially the same manner as they are in amphioxus and other Chordata. (2) The free-swimming tailed larva possesses the es- sential characters of the Chordata, inasmuch as it has a longitudinal skeletal axis (the notochord), separat- ing a dorsally placed nervous system (the neural canal) from a ventral alimentary canal (archenteron) ; and therefore during this period of its life history the ani- mal belongs to the Chordata. (2) The Chordata larva is more highly organized than the adult ascidian, and therefore the changes by which the latter is produced DIPLOGLOSSA LEPTO Pygopodidae Zonuridae Angnidas Teida? Gerrhosauridas I. Limbs, two pair a. Digits 5-4 Tejus b. Digits 4-5 Tretioscineus Micrablepharus Gymopthalmus c. Digits 4-4 Sauresia Scolecosaurus Saurophis d. Digits 4-3 e. Digits 3-4 /. Digits 3-3 Microdactylus g. Digits 3-2 Herpetochalcis Ji. Digits 2-4 /'. Digits 2-3 j. Digits 22 k. One or both monodactyle Chamaesaura Panolopus Copliias Ophiognomon Catia II. Fore limbs only Propus (digits o . III. Hind limbs only Pygopus Cryptodelma Delma Pletholax Aprasia Lialis Mancus Pseudopus Opheodes Hyalosaurus IV. No limbs j Opheosaurus Dopasia Anguis GLOSSA ANNIEL- LOIDEA ANNULATI Scincidae Acontiidae Dibamidae Anelytropsidae Anniellidae Hagria - Heteropus Ristella Menetia Gongyloseps Chiamela Rhinoseineus Tetradactylus Miculia Chalcidoseps Blepharactisis Sphenops Zygnopsis Allodactylus Tridentulus Chalcides Hemiergis Siaphus Phaneropis Sepomorphus Sphenoscineus Sepsina Nessia Hemipodiuni Anisoterma Lerista Eumecia Heteromeles Dimeropus Chelomeles Brachystopus Oncopus Brachymeles Anomalopus Coloscincus Furcillus Dicloniscus Evesia - Euchirotidae (di- gitss-5) Ollochirus Dumerlia Scelotes Soridia Podoclonium Dibamus Opheoscincus Herpetosaura Sepophis Herpetoscps Opheomorus Acontias i'vphlacontias Anelytropsis Feylinia Typhlosaurus Anniella Amphisbasna Rhincura Lepidosternum Trogonophidae k 2i8 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. from the former may be regarded as a process of de- generation. The important conclusion drawn from all this is, that the Tunicata are the degenerate descend- ants of a group of the primitive Chordata " £=Verte- brata). The degeneracy of the Tunicata follows imme- diately their assumption of the sessile condition. Some of the degenerate forms which are not sessile, are sup- posed to be the free descendants of sessile forms. Among the craniate Vertebrata, most conspicuous examples of degeneracy are to be seen in the reduction and loss of limbs in certain Batrachia and in many Reptilia. In both classes successive loss of phalanges and digits form series in several groups of salamanders and lizards, and in both these orders there are forms with the limbs rudimental or altogether wanting. In Batrachia, the genus Amphiuma displays rudimental limbs with minute digits numbering two or three on each limb. In the Caeciliidae, the limbs are wanting. Both types are subterranean in their habits. I give the annexed table of the Lacertilia with degenerate limbs, which it will be observed are found in eleven distinct families. (Pp. 216-217.) Finally, in the snakes (Ophidia) the limbs have totally disappeared, rudiments only remaining in the boas and pythons and their allies. Paleontology renders it clear that this reduction is a case of degeneracy, since both the Ophidia and La- certilia can be traced to Reptilia of the Permian epoch, which have well-developed limbs. This degeneracy is allied to subterranean or terrestrial habits. It is prob- able that the primitive snakes sought concealment in cavities of the earth and beneath rocks and logs, and spent much of their time in narrow quarters, where CA TA GENESIS. 219 limbs would be of no use to them. Some of them, the Angiostomata, are now subterranean in their habits, and most of them are blind, or nearly so. These forms present rudiments of limbs, which leads to the supposi- tion that they are near to the ancestral types. From such forms they developed a type which has proved competent to compete successfully with other verte- brates on the ground, in the water, and in the trees of the forest. From what has gone before it is now clear that while kinetogenesis is a factor in progressive evolu- tion, the reverse process, or akinetogenesis, is as defi- nite a factor in degeneracy. The evidence derived from parasitism and sedentary modes of life is conclu- sive in this direction. I now cite another example of catagenesis which throws much light on the origin of the vegetable king- dom. I have advanced the hypothesis1 that plants are the degenerate descendants of protozoan animal ancestors, and I will now produce some of the evi- dence on which the hypothesis rests. The Myxomy- cetes or Mycetozoa occupy debatable ground between the vegetable and animal kingdoms. They seem at one period of their history to pertain to the former and at another to the latter. These organic beings are claimed by both botanists and zoologists, the former placing them with the Fungi, the latter including them in the Protozoa. The fact is that in their mature form they enter the Fungi, while in their early stages they are Protozoa. They have distinct reproductive structures, which pro- duce spores. From each spore issues a " flagellula, " which is a simple cell with a flagellum, not apparently 1 Origin of the Fittest, pp. 431-432. 220 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLVTION. different from a monad. The flagellum is early lost, and the cell is then termed an amoebula, since it does not differ materially from an amoeba. Its movements are similar, and it puts forth short pseudopodia. When these amoebulae come in contact with each other they Fig. 54. — Mycetozoa (from Lankester after Du Bary). 1-6, Germination of spore (i) of TricJica Taria, showing the emerging flagellula ; (4-5; and its conversion into an amosbula (6). 7-18, Series leading from spore to plasmo- dium phase of Chondrioderma difforma ; 7, spore ; 10, flagellula ; 12, amoe- bula ; 14, apposition of two amoebulaa ; 15-17, fusions; 18, plasmodium. 19- 20, Spore-fruit (cyst) of Physarum leucoph&um X 25 ; the former from the sur- face, the latter in section with the spores removed to show the sustentacular network or capillitium. 21, Section of the spore-cyst of Dydymium squamulo- sum, with the spores removed to show the radiating capillitium x, and the stalk. fuse, often in large numbers, forming a continuous gelatinous sheet, the plasmodium (Fig. 54), which may have several square inches, and even feet of sur- face. At the proper time reproductive organs form on this surface in the form of capsules (sporangia), which may or may not be supported on peduncles, and CATAGENESIS. 221 which are filled with minute cyst-like masses of proto- plasm, or spores. As already stated, these spores give issue to flagellula. We have in the life of the Mycetozoa, if not the actual origin of the vegetable from the animal king- dom, a case closely similar to it in a collateral phylum. The process is one of degeneracy through the assump- tion of a sessile life, or earth-parasitism ; an example of akinetogenesis. The paleontology of animals has ab- solutely established the fact that the predecessors of all characteristic or specialized types have been un- specialized or generalized types, "neither one thing nor another." It may then be regarded as almost cer- tain that the ancestors of the present higher types of plants were more animal-like than they; that the forms displaying automatic movements were more numerous, and the difficulty of deciding on the vegetable or ani- mal nature of a living organism greater than it is now. Hence it may be concluded that "animal" bathmism has from time to time undergone retrograde meta- morphosis producing as a result the permanent form of life which we call vegetable. Given spontaneous movement (i. e. growth) and surrounding conditions, and the resultant product must be structures adapted to their surroundings, just as the plastic clay is fitted to its mould. And this is essentially the distinguishing character of vegetable teleology as compared with ani- mal. In the average plant we see adaptation to con- ditions permitted by unconscious nutrition and repro- duction ; in the animal, adaptation to a greater variety of conditions, due to the presence of sensation or con- sciousness. In closing Part I. of this book, I desire to point out the conclusion which has, I think, been reached. 222 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. m It has been proved, as it appears to me, that the vari- ation which has resulted in evolution has not been multifarious or promiscuous, but in definite directions. It has been shown that phylogeny exhibits a progres- sive advance along certain main lines, instead of hav- ing been indefinite and multifarious in direction. It is not denied that many lines of variation have been at one geologic period and another discontinued. It is also true that certain divergences from the main lines have appeared, and that minor and secondary variations have occurred. Such variations do not seem to have had any material effect on the general course of evolution. In many cases such variations from main lines might be compared to the undulations in the course of a stream, which nevertheless seeks its lowest level in spite of all temporary obstacles. Pro- fessor Scott has termed these temporary variations < ' nu- tations," in an able article on the subject.1 "Sports" seem to have been of no importance in evolution what- ever. \American Journal Sci. Arts, Vol. XLVIII., 1894, p. 355. PART II. THE CAUSES OF VARIATION. PRELIMINARY. IN Part II., which treats of the causes of variations, I propose to cite examples of the direct modifying effect of external influences on the characters of indi- vidual animals and plants. These influences fall nat- urally into two classes, viz., the physico-chemical (molecular), and the mechanical (molar). The modi- fications so presented are supposed to be the result of the action of the causes in question, continued through- out geologic time. To the two types of influence which thus express themselves in evolution, I have given the names Physiogenesis1 and Kinetogenesis. The inheritance of character is assumed in this sec- tion, and the reason for so doing will be considered later, in the third section of this book. In the animal kingdom we may reasonably suppose that kinetogenesis is more potent as an efficient cause of evolution than physiogenesis. In the vegetable kingdom it is quite evident that evolution is more usually physiogenetic than kinetogenetic. Atmospheric and terrestrial conditions play a major role in the 1 "The Energy of Evolution." American Naturalist, March, 1894. "The Origin of Structural Variations " in Ne-w Occasions, Chicago, May, 1894. C. H. Kerr & Co, 226 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. determination of plant-structure, but motion has also had an important influence. The motion, however, has originated in small degree in the plant itself, but has been derived from without. Some importance must be ascribed to the effects of winds, but the prin- cipal source of the especial strains to which plants have been subjected, has been the insect world. In- sects have been inhabitants of land-plants since their origin in early Paleozoic ages, and the mutual relations of plants and insects have ever been intimate. As has been insisted by Miiller and Henslow, the uses to which the floral organs have been put by hymenopte- rous and other insects have been probably a principal cause of the forms assumed by the former. From this direction has been derived the kinetogenetic influence in plant evolution. The few independent movements displayed by plants may have had some influence on the evolution of their structure. We have no reason as yet to suppose that such movements have any other than purely physical factors. CHAPTER V.— PHYSIOGENESIS. BOTANISTS and gardeners are familiar with the effects of physical causes in producing modifica- tions in the characters of plants. That modifications so produced have become hereditary is known to be the fact, and we may therefore infer that the evolution of plant forms has been produced in large degree by similar agencies in past geological ages. Says Hens- low:1 "M. Carriere raised the radish of cultivation, Raphanus sativus L. , from the wild species, R. rapha- nistum L., and moreover found that the turnip-rooted form resulted from growing it in a heavy soil, and the long-rooted one in a light soil. Pliny records the same fact as practised in Greece in his day, saying that the male (turnip form) could be produced from the female (long form) by growing it in a "cloggy soil." The rule may be laid down that a species [of plant] may be constant as long as its environment is constant, but no longer. I have changed the spiny Ononis spinosa L., the rest-harrow, both by cuttings and by seed into a spineless form, undistinguishable from the species O. repens L. in two years ; but it would have, I doubt 1 Natural Science, 1894, pp. 259-260. 228 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. not, at once reverted to the O. spinosa if I had re- planted it on the poor soil from which I took it. It seems, therefore, to be a very hazardous and fallacious method of testing the value of specific or other char- acters by cultivation. A wild plant may or may not change at once. Thus the carrot, Daucus carota L. , proved refractory with Buckman, but not with Vilmo- rin, who converted this annual into a hereditary bien- nial by sowing the seed late in the season, till the character of flowering in the second season became fixed." The prevalence of spinous plants in dry and desert regions has often been described.1 The same is true of reptiles, although spines appear on some species in fertile regions. Spines of plants are believed to be twigs, petioles, leaves, etc., partially aborted under the influence of drought, or the absence of the water neces- sary to the tissues of the parts in question. Wallace points out, however, that there are spinous plants in humid climates, citing the Gleditschia (honey locust) as an example. The spines of such plants may be sur- vivals of periods of drought in previous geologic ages. Or desiccation of certain parts of a plant might be a form of abortion of those parts, a phenomenon which is confined to no region, and is evidently due to causes other than drought in some cases. Henslow (/. r . r! ^ ^^ 0) en fe? , N rt V • t, s « IT. 2 .s u 1-. > Cfl CHAPTER VI.— KINETOGENESIS. T TNDER the head of kinetogenesis (development by LJ motion) comes the consideration of the effect of use and disuse. Use necessarily conditions the evolu- tion of useful characters. These characters are such by reason of their adaptation to the life-functions of the beings which possess them. It is perfectly well known, however, that all plants and animals possess more or less numerous peculiarities which are not use- ful to their possessors. Such are the mammae of male animals; the incisions forming palmate or pectinate leaves and petals of plants ; rudimental organs of all kinds ; great elongation of the vertebral column, espe- cially of the caudal series in certain species ; patches of color, or of hairs, at particular places, etc. These, and many others may be arranged in divisions accord- ing to their probable origin, as follows: I. Excess of growth energy. Examples : the recurved tusks of the mammoth, babirussa, etc. ; the elongate feathers of some birds, etc. II. Defect of growth-energy. i. Atavism: examples; the tritubercular superior molar of certain races of man. KINETOGENES1S. 247 2. Degeneracy from disuse: examples; the rudimental legs and digits of numerous lizards. 3. Degeneracy from disuse and complementary excess else- where : examples ; reduction in number of molars and in- cisors in man ; reduced mammae in male Mammalia ; re- duction of lateral digits in the true horses (Equus). 4. Physico-chemical causes : here must be probably included various color-patches and color -tints, for which no other explanation is accessible. Darwin considers several of the above conditions, and endeavors to explain some of them as consequences of natural selection. Equivalent to the Section I. above, he enumerates extraordinary developments of particular parts.1 He says, "A part developed in any species in an extraordinary degree or manner in com- parison with the same part in an allied species, tends to be highly variable." He does not attempt any ex- planation of the origin of such characters, except through natural selection. Of the characters coming under Section II. above, he says, " Multiple, rudimen- tary and lowly organized structures are variable." Of these he remarks, " I presume that lowness here means that the several parts of the organism have been but little specialized for particular functions ; and as long as the same part has to perform diversified work, we can perhaps see why it should remain variable, that is, why natural selection should not have preserved or rejected each little deviation of form so carefully as when the part has to serve for some one special pur- pose." Here Mr. Darwin well illustrates his unwilling- ness to look to disuse as the cause of the conditions he describes. Under "Compensation and Economy of Growth" he quotes from Goethe that "In order to 1 The Origin of Species, Ed. 1872, p. 119. 248 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. spend on one side, nature is forced to economize on the other side." I have expressed the same view in the following language :l " The complementary diminution of growth-nutrition follows the excess of the same in a new locality or or- gan, of necessity, if the whole amount of which an animal is capable be, as I believe, fixed. In this way are explained the cases of retardation of character seen in most higher types. The discovery of truly comple- mentary parts is a matter of nice observation and ex- periment.'3 An apparent illustration is that of the in- crease of the median digits in the diplarthrous Ungu- lata contemporaneously with the diminution and atro- phy of the lateral digits. This is, however, an exam- ple of the relative effects of use and disuse, which pro- ceed contemporaneously, and it is probable that most if not all cases of complementary growth-relations may be expressed in this wray. Thus the orthognathism of the higher human races is accompanied by full frontal development, the two modifications constituting a re- tardation of the postembryonic growth of the face. But this change can be traced to use, increased brain action enlarging that organ, and expanding its osseous case, probably at the expense of lime salts which would otherwise go to the jaws. Reduction of teeth in Ar- tiodactyla and in man cannot be regarded as a useful character in itself, but it is complementary to the de- velopment of other characters which are useful. Under the same head may come perhaps, the facts included by Mr. Darwin under the head of " Correlated Variation." Of these he says, "I mean by this ex- pression that the whole organization is so tied together 1 " Method of Creation," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1871, p, 257; Origin of the Fittest, 1887, p. 201. KINE TO GENESIS. 249 during its growth and development, that when slight variations in any one part occur, and are accumulated through natural selection, other parts become modi- fied." After referring to various characters of compo- site and unbelliferous plants in illustration of such a law, he says (/. c., p. 116), " Hence modifications of structure, viewed by systematists as of high value, may be wholly due to the laws of variation and correlation, without being, so far as we can judge, of the slightest service to the species." Here Mr. Darwin admits the insufficiency of natural selection as an explanation of the origin of such characters; for he says (p. 119), "Natural selection, it should never be forgotten, can act solely for the advantage of each being." He goes further, and admits (p. 114) that the Lamarckian doc- trine has some claims to credence, where he says, "On the whole we may conclude that habit, or use and dis- use, have in some cases, played a considerable part in the modification of the constitution and structure ; but that the effects have often been largely combined with, and sometimes overmastered by the natural selection of innate variations." i. KINETOGENESIS OF MUSCLE. The fundamental condition of the molar movements of organic beings is the contractility of protoplasm. In the Amoeba this contractility is a generally diffused characteristic of its body-substance, and this is the case with Rhizopoda generally. In higher Protozoa the contractility is already especially developed in cer- tain, regions where most needed for the movement of the body in definite directions ; generally immediately beneath the denser sarcode of the external surface. In 250 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. Stentor this substance presents the appearance of longitudinal threads ; in Gregarina they encircle the body. From these simple beginnings we can follow the muscular tissue to its various expressions in all classes of animals ; to the concentric threads of the Coalenterata ; to the longitudinal bundles beneath the integument of worms ; and the variously directed masses attached to the external skeleton of the Arthro- poda, and the internal skeleton of the Vertebrata. The ease with which muscular tissue is grown in the higher animals under use, permits us to infer that its develop- ment in all animals has been due to the same cause. Muscular structure is directly related to the needs of the structures to which it is attached, in the perform- ance of movements. In rudimental limbs muscles are reduced in both size and number, distinct slips or bodies becoming fused. In enlarged limbs the reverse process takes place. Muscular bellies increase in size, and in number by subdivision. The muscular system in the middle and higher Vertebrata is variable, and its plasticity to the stimuli to movements is well known. It is evident that definite muscular bands have been developed in the lines of resistance which it has been necessary to overcome in moving the body or parts of it. The movable segments which have become adapted for contact with the surrounding media, by development of hardness or extent of surface, as limbs (feet, wings), and jaws, have naturally become the points of origin of the most efficient muscular bands. No one can doubt the mutual stimuli which the muscular and skeletal systems have exchanged during the process of evolution, since they are necessary to each other from a mechanical point of view. KINE TO GENE SIS. 2 5 1 Hitter,1 a distinguished specialist in the diseases of the joints, gives the following positive information as to the easy formation of new modifications of muscu- lar structure : " Muscular tissue everywhere possesses the capa- city to shorten itself in consequence of continued ap- proximation of its points of insertion ; that is, to be- come shorter by the disappearance of tissue, in pro- portion to the duration of the approximation. This law is of the greatest importance for the muscular con- traction of joints, that is, for such restriction of the freedom of movement of the articulations as has its origin in muscular movements. We have experimen- tal opportunities for the observation of this fact, such as the effect of a stiff bandage on an articulation. When it is necessary, in consequence of a fracture of the fore- arm, to fix the elbow-joint for several weeks in a right- angled flexure, we find on the removal of the bandage that the power of extension of the fore-arm has been much restricted. That the cause is nutritive change is proven by the fact that considerable force of mus- cular contraction is necessary before the normal ex- tension can be effected." Similar phenomena are to be observed in conse- quence of a prolonged lying in bed, where no injury to the innervation exists. "The muscles adapt themselves to the permanent positions of the articulations, as in joint-contractions which are due to muscular paralysis. Those muscles which are habitually stretched, increase in length, while those whose insertions are approximated, are shortened, producing joint-contraction." He then goes 1 Hitter, " Studien an den Extremitfitengelenken Neugeborener und Er- wachsener." Virchow's Archiv fUr pathologische Anatomic, Bd. XXV., 6-8. 252 PRIMAR Y FA C TORS OF OR GA NIC E VOL UTION. on to describe the effect of such fixation of joints on the bones themselves, to which I will refer on a later page, under the head of the origin of articular sur- faces. Professor Eimer of Tubingen has given us a synop- sis of the nature of the evolution of the characters of the muscular tissue, which is highly instructive, and of which I present here an abstract.1 The conclusions reached by Eimer are derived from a general study of the subject, both in the laboratory and in the litera- ture. He says : " (i) It is apparently continued contractions of the protoplasm in definite directions, which have produced muscular masses. Since plants do not display con- tinuous and vigorous movements, they have not de- veloped muscular bodies. "(2) Undoubted facts indicate that from a primi- tively identical substance muscular tissue has devel- oped in the direction of effective contractions, while connective tissue has developed where no contractions have been present. "(3) Muscle-masses first appeared almost every- where in the external layer of the contractile region : "a, in Protozoa in the outer layer of the body; " b, in Metazoa in the tegumentary sheath of the body. "c, They consist first either of muscle-cells, or muscle-fibers, from which develop man- tle muscle-cells and mantle muscle-fibers. Mantle muscle-fibers compose the other- wise highly developed striped muscles of l"Die Entstehung und Ausbildung des Muskelgewebes, insbesondere der Querstreifung desselben als Wirkung der Thatigkeit betrachtet." Zcit- schrift fiir ivissen scliaft liche Zoologie, LIIL, Suppl., 1892, p. 67. KINE TO GENESIS. 253 Arthropoda, and some Vertebrata (Batra- chia). And when the entire muscle-fiber is divided into fibrillae, there can appear an external layer of muscular threads. That muscle cells and fibers first appear in the external stratum of the active body of animals, is due to the especially active movements necessary to this part of the body. This is a simple mechanical consequence of the fact, that in a more or less longi- tudinally extended body of protoplasm, whether it be Protozoon or worm, or muscle-cell or muscle-fiber, that its movements must be more vigorous on the external than the internal portion of it. Therefore, the former would first display muscular structure. " (5) If the first stage is the development of masses of plasma, which display contraction in definite direc- tions, the next step is the division of such masses into muscle-threads or fibrillae. These threads must be re- garded as a result of contractions, whose inequality produces subdivisions of the original mass. A com- pound structure is also more effective than a simple one in effecting contractions. "(6) The next stage of evolution of muscular tissue consists of the appearance of the cross-striping. The mechanical effect of the cross-striping is to distribute the contractility equally throughout the length of the fiber. The contractions of the unstriped muscular fiber are less vigorous, and also less uniformly dis- tributed than those of the striped fiber. The cross- striping is a result of contractions. It commences as simple undulations of the surface of the fiber. The contraction of the plasma is wave-like and is propa- gated rapidly through the fiber, and is not due to a flow and return of the contained protoplasm. The 254 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. frequent repetition of these local contractions and en- largement of the fiber have resulted in a permanent difference in its intimate structure, the alternate waves becoming fixed as cross-bands." As evidence of the truth of this proposition, (6), Eimer cites many facts. In the muscles of the Mol- lusca, striped fibers occur in those forms, as Pecten, where the closing of the shell is especially vigorous, this being their mode of progress through the water. In other forms, where the muscles have no such vigo- rous use, the fibers are smooth. In Arthropoda, the muscles of the legs of swiftly running forms are striped, while those of the alimentary canal are smooth. It is a general law that muscles which have energetic con- tractions are striped, while those in which the con- tractions are slow or feeble, are smooth. In the com- mon house-fly, Eimer records some remarkable obser- vations. Flies examined in winter, during the period of torpidity, were found to have the fibers of the tho- racic muscles smooth. With advance of the spring the striping gradually made its appearance, and in the summer it was fully developed. An artificial imitation of winter, by refrigeration in an ice-cellar, caused the cross-striping to disappear. The striping in some other animals is shown by Eimer to be strongly in- fluenced by physical conditions. In fact, muscular tissue is highly plastic, and as it is directly under the control of nervous or equivalent stimuli, the effect of the latter in building structure is evident. That the motion communicated to the hard parts through the agency of the muscular system is effective in building the hard structures will be shown in a subsequent section. KINE TO GENESIS. 255 2. KINETOGENESIS IN MOLLUSCA. a. The Origin of the Plaits in the Columella of the Gastropoda. Mr. W. H. Dall has developed the mechanics of evolution in the Gastropoda, and I quote extracts from one of his papers to show the harmony of his views with those of other Neo-Lamarckians.1 "The question which first arises is as to the origin of the columellar plications and their function. In considering the dy- namic relations of the animal to its shell we may ob- tain satisfaction on this point. In the fusiform Rha- chiglossa an anatomical difference exists to which I believe attention has not hitherto been called. In- deed, unless the principles of dynamic evolution are granted, it is a difference which would appear to have little or no significance. These principles, however, afford a key which seems to unlock this and many other mysteries. In the recent forms of this sort the adductor muscle, which in all gastropods is attached to the columella at a certain distance within the aper- ture, is attached deeper within the shell than in non- plicate forms. The point of attachment may be an entire turn, or even more, behind the aperture, while in short globose few-whorled shells and in the non- plicate forms it is, as a general rule, little more than half a turn behind the aperture. ' ' Now let us consider the dynamics of the case. We have, reduced to its ultimate terms, a twisted, shelly, hollow cone, subangulate or even channelled at two ex- 1 Transactions of the Wagner Free Institute of Science, Philadelphia, Aug., 1890, p. 58. 256 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. tremes corresponding to the canal and the posterior commissure of the body and outer lip. Inside of this we have a thin, loose epithelial cone, the mantle, of which the external surface, especially toward the mar- gin, is shell-secreting ; lastly, inside of the mantle- cone we have a more or less solid third cone, consist- ing of the foot and other external parts of the body of the animal, which can be extended beyond the mantle- cone outwardly, as the mantle-cone can be beyond the shell-cone. The body-cone and the mantle-cone are attached at one of the angles of the shell-cone some distance within the opening of the spiral of the latter. The two outer cones constitute a loose, flexible funnel within a rigid, inflexible funnel, while the body- cone forms a solid, elastic stopper inside of all. "What will happen according to mechanical prin- ciples (which can be tested by anybody with the sim- plest apparatus) when the mantle-cone is withdrawn into a part of the shell-cone too small for the natural diameter of the contracted mantle-cone ? It must wrinkle longitudinally. Where will the wrinkles come ? They will come at the angles of the shell-cone first ; they will be most numerous toward the aperture, since toward the aperture the mantle-cone enlarges dispro- portionately to the caliber of the shell, owing to its processes, the natural fold of the canal, etc., etc.; the deepest and strongest wrinkles will be on the pillar, owing to the fact that the attachment of the adductor prevents perfect freedom in wrinkling and the groove of the canal will mechanically induce the first fold in that vicinity. The most numerous small wrinkles will be near the aperture opposite the pillar, because of the mantle-edge this is the most expanded part, and there will be a tendency to a ridge near the angle of KINE TO GENESIS. 257 the posterior commissure. Repeated dragging of a shell- secreting surface, thus wrinkled, over a surface fitted to receive such secretion, will result in the ele- vated shelly ridges which on the pillar we call plica- tions ; and on the outer lip lirae, if long, or teeth, if short. The commonly existing subsutural internal ridge on the body of the shell near the posterior com- missure will mark the spe- cial conditions in that part of the aperture. "When the secreting sur- face is thus wrinkled or cor- rugated longitudinally, the wrinkles and the concave folds between them will be directed in the sense or di- rection in which the body moves in emerging from or withdrawing to the whorl. The summits of the convex wrinkles will be appressed more or less forcibly against the shell -wall exterior to them in which they are con- fined. The semi-fluid, limy body 1.whorl °pen°d' udisplaJ1'i"f J nnn-nhratp rnliimpl In V, byssus ; h, heart. ing the valves. As a result, both muscles are of about the same size. The condition described is that existent in the completed prodissoconch stage in all pelecy- pods, as far as known. In later life, however, a revo- lution of the axes of the soft parts may take place, so that the antero-posterior axis (represented by a line \ drawn through the mouth and middle of the posterior adductor muscle), instead of being parallel to the hinge-axis (the axis of motion of the valves) as in dimyarians, may present a greater or less degree of divergence from the parallel. In progressive series, 264 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. as in Modiola (Fig. 61), Perna, etc., as the adductor muscle is brought nearer and nearer to the hinge-line, Fig. 61. — Modiola plicatula. Lettering same as in Fig. 60. where its mechanical action is less and less effectual in closing the valves, we find that it is more and more reduced until it finally dis- appears from disuse and atrophy, as in Ostrea (Fig. 62), and Pecten. Con- versely, the posterior ad- ductor in the same series in the revolution of the axes is pushed farther and farther from the hinge -line and nearer to the central plane of the valves, where its me- chanical action is most ef- fectual in closing the valves. With its increase in func- tional activity the muscle f^.te.—Ostrcavirginiana. Let- tering same as in Fig. 60. increases in size. The revolved position of the axes, and the consequent reduction or loss of the anterior adductor and increase of the posterior adductor, is KINETOGENESIS. 265 _ found in many widely separated genera of pelecypods, as Ostrea, Mulleria, and Tridacna ; thus proving the development of the same features on different lines of descent.1 In Aspergillum the two valves have con- cresced so as to form a truly univalvular, tubular shell, so that the adductors would evidently be functionless if existent. The posterior adductor has disappeared and the anterior is reduced to a few disconnected shreds (Fisher), though evidently existent in the young, as attested by the form of the shell in the nepionic stage. 11 Ordinarily there are two posterior retractor-mus- cles of the foot in pelecypods, one situated on either side. In adult Pecten either the left retractor alone exists, or both retractors are wanting (the left doubtless al- ways exists in the young). In studies of young Pecten irradians, I found that the animal always crawled while lying on the right side, with the foot extended through the notch in the lower valve and pressed against the surface of support. It is evident that while crawling in this position the left retractor is in the plane of traction, and it is retained ; on the other hand, the right retractor would not be in the plane of trac- tion, and it has disappeared through disuse and atro- phy.2 A similar disappearance of the right retractors of the foot is seen in Anoviia glabra, and is explained on similar bases of argument. ' ' In My a arenarta we find a highly elongated siphon. In the young the siphon hardly extends beyond the borders of the valves, and then the animal lives at or 1 Dr. B. Sharp and I published almost simultaneously closely similar views on the mechanical aspect of the relative size of the adductors. See r>-«cct-(is. Pliila. Acad., 1888, p. 122, and Proceeds. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist,, Vol. XXIII., 1888, p. 538. 2 Both retractors doubtless exist in the prodissoconch stage of Pecten and allies. 266 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. close to the surface. In progressive growth, as the animal burrows deeper, the siphon elongates, until it attains a length many times the total length of the valves. The ontogeny of the individual and the pale- ontology of the family both show that Mya came from a form with a very abbreviated siphon, and it seems evident that the long siphon of this genus was brought about by the effort to reach the surface, induced by the habit of deep burial. " The tendency to equalize the form of growth in a horizontal plane in relation to the force of gravity act- ing in a perpendicular plane, or the geomalic tendency of Professor Hyatt,1 is seen markedly in pelecypods. In forms which crawl on the free borders of the valves the right and left growth in relation to the perpendic- ular is obvious, and agrees with the right and left sides of the animal. In Pecten the animal at rest lies on the right valve, and swims or flies with the right valve lowermost. Here equalization to the right and left of the perpendicular line passing through the center of grav- ity is very marked (especially in the Vola division of the group) ; but the induced right and left aspect cor- responds to the dorsal and ventral sides of the animal, -not the right and left sides, as in the former case. Lima, a near ally of Pecten, swims with the edges of the valves perpendicular. In this case the geomalic growth corresponds to the right and left sides of the animal. "The oyster has a deep or spoon-shaped attached valve and a flat or flatter free valve. This form, or a modification of it, we find to be characteristic of all 1 " Transformations of Planorbis at Steinheim, with Remarks on the Ef- fects of Gravity Upon the Forms of Shells and Animals." Proceeds. A. A. A. S., Vol. XXIX., 1880. tCINETOGENESlS. 267 pelecypods which are attached to a foreign object of support by the cementation of one valve. All are highly modified, and are strikingly different from the normal form seen in locomotive types of the group. The oyster may be taken as the type of the form adopted by attached pelecypods. The two valves are unequal, the attached valve being concave, the free valve flat ; but they are not only unequal, they are often very dissimilar, — as different as if they belonged to a distinct species in what would be considered typ- ical forms. This is remarkable as a case of acquired and inherited characteristics finding very different ex- pression in the two valves of a group belonging to a class typically equivalvular. The attached valve is the most highly modified, and the free valve is least modified, retaining more fully ancestral characters. Therefore, it is to the free young before fixation takes place and to the free, least-modified valve that we must turn in tracing genetic relations of attached groups. Another characteristic of attached pelecy- pods is camerated structure, which is most frequent and extensive in the thick attached valve. The form as above described is characteristic of the Ostreidae, Hinnites, Spondylus, and Plicatula, Dimya, Pernos- trea, Aetheria, and Mulleria; and Chama and its near allies. These various genera, though ostreiform in the adult, are equivalvular and of totally distinct form in the free young. The several types cited are from widely separated families of pelecypods, yet all, under the same given conditions, adopt a closely similar form, which is strong proof that common forces acting on all alike have induced the resulting form. What the forces are that have induced this form it is not easy to see from the study of this form alone ; but the 268 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. ostrean form is the base of a series, from the summit of which we get a clearer view." c. Mechanical Origiti of the Impressed Zone in Cepha- lopoda. Prof. Alpheus Hyatt has shown that the groove on the dorsum or inside of each coil of the Cephalopoda is due to the pressure exercised by contact with the ventral side of the coil within it. He has shown that this groove persists in cases where the shell in the course of evolution has become more or less unwound, and he regards this as an example of the inheritance of a mechanically acquired character. This subject is presented in greater detail in the part of this book de- voted to heredity. 3. KINETOGENESIS IN VERMES AND ARTHROPODA. It is believed with good reason that the Arthropoda have descended from some of the forms included in the branch Vermes, and perhaps Peripatus furnishes the nearest living approach to that type. The ances- tor, whatever it may have been, developed limbs from processes of the body-wall, and used them to aid in progression. Peripatus has soft flexible limbs, and a non-chitinous integument generally. With the begin- ning of induration of the integument, segmentation would immediately appear, for the movements of the body and limbs would interrupt the deposit at such points as would experience the greatest flexure. The muscular system would initiate the process, since flexure depends on its contractions, and its presence in ani- mals prior to the induration of the integuments in the order of phylogeny, furnishes the condition required. It is a matter of detail how the diverse segmentations KINE TO GENESIS. 269 of existing forms were produced. We can believe, however, that, as in Vertebrata, there has been a gradual elimination of less important segments of the limbs, until the highest mechanical efficiency was at- tained. We well know how the segments of the head and body have been modified by fusion, etc. Prof. B. L. Sharp has shown the mechanical con- ditions of segmentation in Arthropoda as follows i1 "It occurred to me that if the theory [of kineto- genesis] had a general application, some additional proofs could be shown to exist among the inverte- brates, where we have the action of muscular force upon hard and resisting parts of the skeleton. Those which present the best study for this purpose appear to be the crustaceans, where we find an immense va- riety of articulations in the body and in the limbs ; highly complicated locked joints, others allowing mo- tion in but one plane, as well as loose joints, where the hard parts scarcely come in contact with one another, and cases of degeneration of the hard parts, leading to total disappearance of a previously existing joint. "In the Anneiides, from which, there is no doubt, the arthropod branch sprang, we find no deposit of inorganic salts in the epidermis. The outer layer of the body is generally of a horn-like character, adher- ing closely to the secretive cells of the epidermis, very flexible, and thrown into folds by the vermicular mo- tion of its possessor. In the leeches the body consists of a flexible cylinder, made up of two sets of muscles, an outer longitudinal cylinder and an inner cylinder of circular fibers, the contraction of which causes the animal to increase in length, while shortening is ef- l American Naturalist, 1893, p. 89. 270 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. fected by the contraction of the longitudinal layer. The external surface of the medicinal leech, for exam- ple, is thrown into a regular series of very fine folds, extending across the longitudinal axis of the body. These folds do not correspond in numbers to the so- mites of the body, which are not indicated externally, five, six, or more of them belonging to one somite. When the animal shortens its length, these folds are deepened and the segments thrown closely to- gether ; when extension takes place, the folds are flattened, spread open, although not wholly disappearing, as they are a fixed quantity, so to speak. I believe these folds are due to mechanical action ; by the disposition of the different fibers of the longitudinal series, in being in serted in a series of planes bounded by the valleys between the folds, this being aided by some of the circular fibers which pass through Fig. 63.-Diagrammatic the longitudinal sheath, and find representation of the <-eg- . ments of the leech, show- their attachment to the bases of the ing the folds, valleys, and valleVS muscular fibers. . Starting from this point, and supposing the regularity of the folds to have become established from preexisting folds by the regularity and stress of muscular action, we can conceive that when deposits of calcareous matter took place, rings simi- larly formed by a folding of a soft skin would receive that deposit at the most prominent portion of this fold, the convex face, and not in the protected valleys, as there would be more friction or pressure from external KINK TO GENESIS. 271 causes, and no deposits would take place in the val- leys themselves, because they would not be subject to external friction, and their continual flexion would prevent any such deposits. Should such a deposit take place in the valleys, there would be a stiffening of the whole surface, which would defeat motion. In fact, in the leech the cuticle is already much thicker on the crests of the folds than in the valleys. "In the more primitive Crus- tacea, we find the animal made up of rings extending over the whole length of the body, similar to the rings of the leech, save that there is but one ring to one somite, and instead of a perpendicular valley between the folds, this valley has an inward and a forward direction, allowing the anterior edge of a caudad ring to fit into the posterior edge of a cephalad ring. "In the higher Crustacea, sev- eral of the anterior rings have co- alesced and form a solid shield which is known as the carapace. This has no doubt arisen by the lessening of the action between the anterior rings when the posterior portion of the body became the more active propelling organ. As the ac- tion ceased forward the valleys came to rest, and be- came exposed to friction and pressure, and conse- quently a deposit of calcareous matter took place pro- ducing the stiffening above hinted at. "The formation of jointed appendages from para- podic paddles of the annelids can be followed out in Fig. 64. — Diagram- matic representation of the rings of a primitive crustacean, showing the action of the muscles. 272 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. the same manner, since the manner of mutual relation of the segments is the same as in the case of the body- segments. " It has been stated that in the leech the folds do not correspond in number to the somites of the body, while they do in the Crustacea. All annelids do not move by means of a muscular system built upon the plan found in the leech. In many the circular layer has to a large extent disappeared, for the longitudino-circular plan is undoubtedly ante-annelidan. The movement of the free medusoid forms, and of the Ctenophora, is the result of a modified arrangement of this plan. "With the disappearance of the circular layer, we find a peculiar modification of the longitudinal layer. This layer becomes broken up and the fibers act in moving the setae, which answer to limbs. In a seg- ment of a setiferous annelid, we may observe that the longitudinal muscles of the somite in section at the po- sition of the seta are arranged like the letter 'V in the fork of which the seta lies, the fibers to the left (anterior) pull the seta externally backward, those on the right (posterior) pull the seta forward. The in- troduction of the setae, the origin of which I do not here attempt to explain, has no doubt been, together with the establishment of the external segmentation, a strong factor in causing the breaking up of the muscu- lar tube into sections (myotomes), which by use and consequent increase have extended each arm of the < V into the segment on each side, while the insertion of the end of the seta has caused a break in the muscle by the formation of an aponurosis. This gives us the peculiar disposition of a myotome to extend across the union of two somites. "If we examine the segments of the so-called ab- KINE TO GENESIS. 273 domen of the macrurous Crustacea, as the lobster, we will find that the anterior face of one abdominal ring is pulled into the posterior orifice of the ring lying an- terior to it, forming a kind of tubular ball and socket- joint, but with a flexible part of the integument with no calcareous deposit, folded upon itself, and acting physiologically as a tubular ligamentum teres. On ex- amining the different joints, we will find that com- mencing at a fixed point, as at the base of the thorax, the movable ring of the first abdominal somite is pulled into the fixed part. Then the first abdominal somite be- comes the fixed point for the movable ring posterior to it, and so on, so that we find that as the rings proceed away from the thorax, each is pulled into the opening of the one in advance. This is true of all those forms where the abdomen is well formed, strong, and an ac- tive organ in the economy of the animal ; when this organ, the abdomen, ceases to be an active organ of motion, as in the burrowing forms, as in Callianassa, Gebia, some of the Squillidae, etc., or where it is folded upon the sternum of the thoracic region, the muscles becoming weaker through disuse, the rings are not subject to the powerful muscular strain, and they as a rule overlap but little, if at all, but lie so that the edge of one ring rests upon the edge of another. In those forms where degeneration of the abdomen has pro- ceeded so far as not to have even the usual deposit of calcareous matter, as in the hermit crabs, there are simply indications of rings on the abdomen, and this organ is but little more than a fleshy sac containing some of the viscera, and supplied with a few muscles which act together, with the form of the organ, to keep the abdomen curled so that it may hold as a hook, the 274 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. animal within the molluscan shell which it habitually inhabits. "When the limbs are examined, the same rule will be found to hold good, viz. : that the movable part is pulled into the fixed part. A modification of this is well illustrated in the evolution of the large chelae. In some forms, take for example Ibacus, the first pair, and in fact all of the thoracic limbs end in a sharp- pointed segment, there being not the slightest sugges- tion of a chela. In Crangon, on the other hand, the terminal segment is pulled against the broad face of the penultimate one thus making a shift for a chela. In the Stomatopoda this step has been developed, for the last segment can be drawn against the whole length of the pen- ultimate one (which is some- times grooved to protect the points of the spines of the latter) and forms with it a very effective grasping or- gan. The continual use of the terminal segment, the increase of the muscular power will tend to draw this terminal segment backward (into) on the penultimate which enlarges with the increase of bulk of muscle, so that a well-developed chela, as in the lobster is found, where the ultimate segment is pulled backward to about the middle of the penultimate segment." a b Fig. 65. — Diagrams of, a, hand of a form of Crangon ; l>, hand of a form of Astacus. •; (^-C- I •• KINETOGENESIS. 275 4. KINETOGENESIS IN THE VERTEBRATA. I have already adduced the evidence in support of the doctrine that the structures of the hard parts of invertebrates have been produced by muscular move- ments. In turning to the Vertebrata we shall find that the evidence indicating that the details of their hard parts have had a similar origin, is quite convincing. This branch of the animal kingdom presents two dis- tinct advantages for this study. First, we have a more complete paleontologic series than in any other. Sec- ond, we have the best opportunity for observation and experiment on their growth processes, since we our- selves, and our companions of the domesticated ani- mals, belong to this branch of the animal kingdom. I shall show first, the conditions under which ab- normal articulations of the skeleton have been formed ; and then the process involved in the formation of normal articulations. I shall then apply these facts to the phylogeny of the Mammalia as we know it, and then in a more general way to the Vertebrata as a whole. 1. KINETOGENESIS OF OSSEOUS TISSUE. a. Abnormal Articulations. . Hiitter, from whom I have quoted under the head of " Kinetogenesis of Muscle, " thus describes the effect of abnormal conditions of joints on the articular sur- faces of the bones which form them. He says : " We have abundant opportunity to investigate the change of condition which the joints undergo during a year of fixed muscular contraction. ' ' The ligaments and bursae undergo similar changes 276 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. to those described for the muscles concerned. They elongate at points where the articular surfaces are spread apart, and correspondingly shorten where the flexure produces a folding. These changes proceed more slowly than those of the muscles and tendons. Very remarkable are the changes undergone by the articular cartilages. When a joint is permanently flexed, a part of the extremity of each bone is separated from contact with the other, and the articulation is finally destroyed at this point, because the cartilage begins to vanish. One must conclude that the exist- ence of the articular cartilages is dependent on their mutual contact ; for dislocated articular surfaces which remain in contact with soft tissues only, lose their car- tilaginous covering. . . . Finally it is possible by a consideration of the etiology of the effects of joint con- tractions to reach some hitherto unnoticed conclusions regarding the changes of articular surfaces, and bone forms. The results of joint-contraction are most con- spicuous when the latter occurs in childhood. During maturity, a dislocation which causes an articular bor- der or prominence to rest abnormally on the opposed articular face in the act of walking, will be followed by the penetration of the former into the latter, and a de- formation of the articulation ; but the corresponding changes under like conditions in the growing skeleton are much more conspicuous." Hiitter thus describes the formation of new artic- ular surfaces as a consequence of dislocation of joints. " If the head of the femur or humerus leaves its socket, and rests on the side of the ilium or the scapula, the periosteum of the bone which receives the new impact is excited to active bone-production, and the result is the deposit of new osseous tissue. The thin bones KINE TO GENESIS. 277 become thicker, not uniformly, but in correspond- ence with the periphery of the head of the humerus or femur, rather than with the point of contact of the latter. This point is irritated, but the contact of the ball restrains osseous deposit. So it occurs that grad-. ually a new socket is developed, whose mechanical relations correspond exactly with those of the articu- lating bone. The head also acquires a strictly spher- ical shape, by such contractions and atrophies as are necessary to produce that result. Further, cartilage appears in the place of the periosteum of the socket, which functions like the primitive articular cartilage. It is characteristic of both connective and periosteal tissue to develop cartilage under the stimulus of con- tinued friction of hard surfaces, such as occurs in dis- locations and fractures." These observations of Hiitter have been confirmed by Henke, Reyher, Moll, and Lesshaft. Henke and Reyher state that the artificial prevention of flexure of articulations in young dogs renders them immobile, and their restraint of flexure to one direction, results in a curving of the articular faces in that direction. I cite here two examples of modifications of struc- ture under abnormal conditions which imposed new impacts and strains on the parts. I have described these cases, which are examples of false elbow-joints in man and in the horse, in the Proceedings of the Amer- ican Philosophical Society for 1892. In the first case, that of the human elbow, the cubitus was luxated posteriorly, so that the humeral condyles articulate with the ulna anterior to the coro- noid process. The head of the radius is in contact with the external epicondyle on its posterior inferior face. The results are as follows. A new coronoid 278 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. process was developed in front of the abnormal posi- tion of the humeral condyle to an elevation above the shaft of the ulna exceeding that of the normal coro- noid. Between it and the normal coronoid was devel- oped a perfectly functional cotylus which embraces the humeral condyle like the normal cotylus. The latter has its articular surface, buried under osseous deposit, so as to be no longer visible. The region of contact between the head of the radius and the external epicondyles, has developed in the latter a large artic- ular cotylus which permits of both rotary and ver- tical movement of the former. The articular surface of the humeral condyles, except where in articulation with the ulna, is roughened, and partially overgrown with exostoses, so as to alter its form to a great extent. The opportunity of examining this specimen I owe to Provost Pepper of the University of Pennsylvania, in whose museum it is preserved. In the case of the horse's elbow, the luxation of the cubitus is inward, so that the olecranon articulates with the external epicondylar surface, and the humeral condyles are not adapted to the head of the radius ; their internal border falling considerably internal to the inner border of the radius. The horse from which this specimen was derived lived for two years after the luxation took place, and became able to use the limb in some degree. The effect on the articulation is as follows. A large part of the inferior extremity of the poste- rior rib of the shaft of the humerus, which is the place of insertion of the extern al flexor metacarpi muscle, has been removed, so as to present a wedge-shaped out- line with the apex downward. This removal permits the close articulation of the inner face of the olecranal KINE TO GENESIS. 279 process with the epicondyle, which has developed a considerable articular face, on which movement takes place in extension and flexion. The posterior border of this face has developed a ridge which borders the facet behind, and retains the olecranon in place. Two other facets are developed on the humeral condyles, and two on the head of the radius. The most impor- tant of the latter is a bevel of the external part of the surface to the border, due to the contact of the ex- panded internal humeral condyle. The articular face of the olecranon is much depressed in consequence of its articulation with the external epicondyle of the humerus. Besides these new and changed facets, the effect of the luxation is seen in the development of os- seous crests at the points of insertion of the articular ligaments. One of these on the humerus has been al- ready referred to. Another is concentric with and posterior to the internal humeral facet of the olecranar process, and serves as a guide to the humeral crest above described. A third is an extensive osseous de- posit on the internal face of the head of the radius, which partially builds an extension of the head of the radius, which if completed would articulate with the overhanging portion of the internal humeral condyle. A third modification of normal structure is similar to that observed in the human elbow. It consists of os- seous deposit beneath the synovial bursa at points where the luxation causes a gaping of the surfaces. This occurs at the trochlear groove of the head of the radius, which is partially filled up with exostosis. The preceding observations lead to the following conclusions : First. Continued excessive friction removes osse- ous tissue from the points of contact until complete c/J O O £ O b 282 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. adaptation is accomplished and the friction is reduced to a normal minimum. Then a normal articular sur- face is produced. Second. Where the normal friction is wanting, and an inflammatory condition is maintained by a pull- ing stress on the investing synovial membrane, excess of osseous deposit is produced. Third. Stress on the articular ligaments and ten- dons stimulates osseous deposit at their insertions, which deposit may be continued into their substance. This is a pulling stress. These observations therefore show that osseous de- posit is produced by different forms of mechanical stimulus. EXPLANATION OF FIGURES 66 AND 67. 1-5, Homo sapiens, luxated elbow joint (one-half natural size); i, luxated elbow joint, from within ; 2, luxated elbow joint, from outer side ; 3, humerus, posterior view of distal region ; 4, humerus, distal view ; 5, ulna and radius, anterior (superior) view ; 6-11, bones of abnormal left elbow joint of horse (one-half natural size) ; 12, 13, normal bones of elbow joint of horse (one-half natural size); 6-12, humerus, distal views; 7-13, cubitus, proximal views; 8, humerus, external view of distal extremity; 9, humeral articulation of cubi- tus, from above; 10, cubitus, internal view ; n, cubitus, external view. Let- tering.— H, humerus ; U, ulna ; fi, radius ; C, coronoid process ; Cz, second (abnormal) coronoid process; O, olecranon ; En, entepicondyle ; EC, ectepi- condyle ; Eno, entepicondylar exostosis ; Eco, ectepicondylar exostosis ; Co, condylar exostosis ; Cos, superior condylar exostosis ; Cot, inferior condylar exostosis; Hf, humeral facet ; Rf, radial facet ; Uf, ulnar facet; Op, olecranar process of ulna ; Cp, coronoid process of ulna; Og, olecranar groove of hu- merus; Tc, trochlear crest of humerus; Tg, trochlear groove of humerus; Ehc, external humeral facet of coronoid process; Ike, internal humeral facet of coronoid process; za, abnormal facet for coronoid process of ulna; ib, do. for internal roller of humerus; ic, do. for abnormal facet of humerus; id, do. for internal border of radius; ic, do. for olecranar process of ulna ; if, do. for trochlear crest of humerus ; 2a, 2b, 2c, exostoses of radius and ulna to fill vacuity between humerus and radius and ulna, ja, abnormal crest which serves as a guide to the olecranar process of the humerus ; J&, abnormal crest which serves as a guide to abnormal crest ja ; jc, exostosis extending head of radius inwards to equalize its width with inward luxation of humerus ; 3d, exostoses of external epicondyle of humerus, to equalize its width with outward luxation of radius; je, abnormal exostosis of insertion of external flexor metacarpi muscle ; 3f, 3g, abnormal crest at insertion of external ar- ticular ligament on olecranar process of ulna. KINE TO GENESIS. 283 b. Normal Articulations. The origin of condyles and their corresponding cotyli has been made the subject of investigation by several German anatomists. L. Fick1 expressed the opinion that the concavo-convex surfaces were pro- duced by a wearing away of the surface which became concave, by the free action on it of the surface which became convex, the former being fixed, and the latter free. He found the conditions of muscular insertions to correspond with the conditions of fixity and free- dom required ; for the insertions are always nearer to the concave surface than to the convex surface. He constructed plaster models of joints, and by moving one on the other obtained a convex surface on the moving, and a concave surface on the fixed extremi- ties. These observations were confirmed by Henke,'2 but he very properly does not regard the result as due to wearing, but to the stimulation of metabolic action in the required directions. R. Fick3 has confirmed these positions in an extended memoir, and recently Dr. E. Tornier has devoted a still more thorough re- search to the same subject.4 R. Fick applied his ob- servations to the question of the phylogeny of the ar- ticulations, but did not see in it proof of the operation of mechanical causes, but ascribed it to "inheritance and natural selection ' in accordance with the mean- ingless formula usual at the time he wrote. W. Roux,5 however, in reviewing Fick's article saw in the obser- 1 Ueber die Ursachen der Knochenformcn, Experimental- Untersuchung, 1859, Gottingen, G. Wiegand. 2 Anatomic und Mechanik dcr Gelenke, Leipsic, 1863, p. 57. SArchivfiir Anatomie und Physiologic, 1890, p. 391. 4 Archiv fiir Entwickelungsmechanik, I., 1894, p. 157. 5 Biologischcs Centralblatt, 1891, p. 188. 284 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. vations of Pick proof of a direct mechanical cause of the structure. I have pointed out the phylogeny of the articulations in the Mammalia in various papers from 1877* to iSSg,2 and in 1881 I advanced the view that their successive evolution was due to impacts and strains {American Naturalist, July, 1881 ; Origin of the Fittest, p. 373). The opinion of Roux entirely sup- ports my position, and it is further established by the elaborate memoir of Tornier just cited. This author adopts the view that bone- development is controlled by Druck und Zug or impact and strain, and he adds some important considerations to those previously ad- vanced. He asserts that " in all existing Vertebrata true bones may appear as secondary structures, since all of these animals possess bands and threads of con- nective tissue which possess the latent capacity to be changed wholly or in part into cartilage.'3 Thus is accounted for the development of sesamoid bones in tendons, in which category is included the patella. Tornier also shows that the concave articular face (cotylus) is that to which the flexor and extensor mus- cular insertions are nearest, while the convex face (condyle) is the one most remote from the muscular insertions. It must be observed that Tornier adopts the lan- guage of the American Neo-Lamarckians in using the expression "impact and strain." Impact and strain are different modes of motion. "Impact' implies pressure, while "strain " implies a pulling stress, either direct or torsional. It is therefore alleged by Tornier, as it has been by myself, that opposite modes of mo- 1 Report U. S. Gcol. Survey W. of loot It Meridian, 1875, Vol. IV., p. 277- 279. Proceeds. Amer. Philosoph. Soc., 1884, p. 44. lAmcr. Journal Morphology, 1889, p. 163. KINETOGENESIS. 285 tion may produce metabolic changes in osseous tissue. For this reason it is possible to account for the length- ening of the limb-bones in heavy animals, as an effect of impact, while the astragalus of bats may have been elongated by a stretching strain. c. The Physiology of Bone Moulding. Dr. Koelliker has summarized the results of the observations made by himself and his predecessors on the processes of the growth and absorption of bone, which determine the forms of the elements of the skel- eton.1 Bone is deposited through the agency of uninuclear cells, or osteoblasts, which may under peculiar condi- A'WOC Ajf, |L . tions become enlarged and multioeik-il-gH*, when they are termed osteoclasts. These osteoclasts produce an absorption or destruction of the bone or dentine with which they are in contact, the bone or dentine being passive under the operation. How this is done is not known. Pieces of ivory which have been used to re- place bone removed by surgical methods, have been found to be both corroded by osteoclasts, and overlaid by layers of living bone by osteoblasts. In explanation of the causes which induce the for- mation and action of the osteoclasts, Koelliker remarks that : "the totality of changes of the jaws during the development of teeth appears to show that it is pres- sure by the soft parts which causes the absorption of bone. One can admit in the case of the jaw that the dental sacs in process of growth produce by their en- largement a state of irritation in the layer of osteo- blasts which originally border the alveolar edge, and 1 " The Normal and Typical Absorption of Bones and Teeth," V'erhandl, der Phys. Med, Ges, -von Wiirzburg, II., III., 1872. 286 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. that in consequence of this irritation the cellules trans- form themselves into osteoclasts, and acquire a new power, that of absorbing bone. The function will cease as soon as the teeth are formed, by the termina- tion of pressure, and then the formative action of the cellules adjacent to the bone will repair it as a conse- quence of a retransformation of these elements into osteoblasts. "I will not push further this first attempt at an explanation of the normal absorption of bone, but I content myself with observing, that in any case, pres- sure exercised by the soft parts counts for much in this phenomenon. Who does not remember in the face of these facts, numerous cases of pathological absorption of bone due to aneurisms, tumors, and hypertrophied organs? Who will not admit the great effect of the disappearance or arrest of development of organs on the size of their osseous surroundings ; as Fick, for- merly professor of anatomy at Marburg, has shown to take place in the orbit after the extirpation of the eye? It is possible to go a step further in the proposition, that external pressure has much to do with absorp- tion. Thus the growth of the brain and spinal cord produce the resorption seen in the interior of the skull and of the spinal canal ; that of the eye and of the nasal mucosa, and of the cranial vessels and nerves, have resulted in the enlargement of their cavities ; and in the case of foramina, in their wider expansion. . . . The medullary cavities of bones are produced in the process of growth by the corrosive activity of osteo- clasts." It is then pressure which produces the excavations which form new cotyli in the construction of new ar- ticulations due to dislocations. By such excavations iCL -— ~ ' v • - A'AA 'A1 TO GENESIS. 287 elevated portions remain adjacent to them. Other elevations, as already described, are due to deposit of bone stimulated by the absence of accustomed pres- sure, as in the filling up of the old ulnar cotylus in the human subject above described. Other elevations or osseous deposits such as occur at muscular and ligamentous insertions appear to follow a pulling stress. Many other examples of the abnormal production of articulations might be cited, but the above are suf- ficient to show the plasticity of osseous tissue. It is also evident that if such results follow the stimulus of the parts during a short period of months or years, the continuance of the appropriate mechanical stresses through geologic ages must have been quite sufficient to produce all the characters which we observe in the articulations of the vertebrate skeleton. I will now present the inferences which may be de- rived from consideration of the facts hitherto presented in this chapter. We have not been witnesses of the process of evolution, yet we believe that it has been in active operation. We have not been able to observe its modus operandi, but we may safely infer what it has been from the facts which are before us. Kineto- genesis having been observed in both the soft sarcode (muscle) and in the hard parts of animals, the law of uniformity obliges us to believe that similar changes have taken place in past ages whenever the necessity arose, and the energy at nature's disposal was suffi- cient. ii. MOULDING OF THE ARTICULATIONS. a. The Limb Articulations. This part of the subject has the advantage of many facts of paleontology in our possession. We have 288 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. now discovered the outlines of the phylogeny of many mammalian types, and many detailed histories of spe- cial lines of descent are known. Our knowledge is most complete in the unguiculate and ungulate pla- centals, while it is least as regards the Mutilata, and the implacentals. We have excellent series of skeletal parts, and I have given the successional modifications of some of them on page 139. In the first place, I will select an illustration, of the effects of use on the articulations of the limbs and feet of the Mammalia. I take first the ankle and wrist-joints. In the ruminating animals (ox, deer, camel, etc.) and in the horse, among other living species, the ankle- Fig. f&.—Periptychus rhabdodon joint IS a Very Strong One, Cope, a condylarthrous genus of the and , admits Qf an ex_ Puerco epoch of New Mexico; poste- rior foot, one-half natural size, show- tenSlVC bending of the foot ing pentadactyle plantigrade foot with- Qn the j jt ig a treble out groove of astragalus, as in the probable ancestor of the Diplarthra. tongU6-and-grOOVe joint ; From Scott and Osborn. that ^ twQ keels Qf the first bone of the foot, the astragalus, fit into two grooves of the lower bone of the leg, the tibia, while between these grooves a keel of the tibia descends to fill a cor- responding groove of the astragalus. Such a joint as this can be broken by force, but it cannot be dislocated. KINETOGENESIS. 289 Now, in all bones the external walls are composed of dense material, while the centers are spongy and com- paratively soft. The first bone of the foot (astragalus) is narrower, from side to side, than the tibia which rests upon it. Hence the edges of the dense side-walls of the astragalus fall within the edges of the dense side-walls of the tibia, and they have pressed into the more yielding material that forms the end of the bone, and causing bone absorption, pushed it upward, thus allowing the side-walls of the tibia to embrace the side-walls of the astragalus. Now, this is exactly what would happen if two pieces of plastic dead material, similarly placed, should be subjected to a continual pounding in the direction of their length. And in view of the facts already cited we cannot ascribe any other immediate origin to it in the living material. The same active cause that produced the two grooves of the lower end of the leg produced the groove of the middle of the upper end of the astragalus. Here we have the yielding lower end of the tibia resting on the equally spongy material of the middle of the as- tragalus. There is here no question of the hard ma- terial cutting into soft, but simply the result of con- tinuous concussion. The consequence of concussion would be to cause the yielding faces of the bones to bend downward in the direction of gravity, or to re- main in their primitive position while the edges of the astragalus were pushed into the tibia. If they were flat at first they would begin to hollow downward, and. a tongue above and groove below would be the result. And that is exactly what has happened. This inclu- sion of the astragalus in the tibia does not occur in the reptiles, but appears first in the Mammalia, which de- scended from them. See Figs. 68-69. ^ nave shown PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. that without exception, every line of Mammalia com- menced with types with an astragalus which is flat in the transverse direction, or without median groove. Fig. 69. Fig. 70. Fig. 69. — Hind foot of primitive cameloid Poebrotherium labiatum Cope, showing grooved astragalus and first toe-bones without keel in front at lower end. (From Colorado.) Fig. 70.— Hind foot of three-toed horse (Prothippus sejunctus Cope] (from Colorado), showing grooved astragalus, and trace of keel on front of lower end of first bone of middle toe. KINE TOG EN E SIS. 291 From early Tertiary times to the present day, we can trace the gradual development of this groove in all the lines which have acquired it. The upper surface became first a little concave ; the concavity gradually became deeper, and finally formed a well- marked groove. The history of the wrist-joint is similar. The surface of the fore- arm bones which joins the fore- foot is in the early Tertiary Mam- malia uniformly concave. In the ruminating mammals it is divided into three fossae, which are sep- arated by sharp keels. These fos- sae correspond with the three bones which form the first row of the carpus or palm. The keels correspond to the free sutures be- tween them. The process has been evidently similar to that which has been described above as produc- ing the side-grooves in the end of the tibia. The dense walls of the sides of the three bones imping- ing endwise on the broad yielding surface of the fore-arm (radius) bones of two middle toes have gradually, under the influence °,f deer'antel°Pe (Cosoryx J ' fiircatus Leidy), showing Of COUntleSS blows, impressed extension of keel on front themselves into the latter. On of low!rve"d' .(Fi;om m°~ cene of Nebraska. the contrary, the surface above the weaker lines between the bones not having been subject to the impact of the blows, and influenced by Fig. 1. — United first 292 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. gravity, remains to fill the grooves, and to form the keels which we observe. (See Fig. 72.) There is another striking instance of the same kind in the feet of Mammalia ; that is, in the development of the keels and grooves which ap- pear at the articulation of the first set of bones of the toes (metapodials) with the bones of the second set (phalanges). These keels first appear on the posterior side of the end of the first set of bones, pro- jecting from between two flexor tendons. These ten- dons, in many mammals, con- tain two small bones, one on each side, each of which acts like the knee-pan, and resem- bles it in miniature, which are called sesamoid bones. These tendons and bones exercise a constant pressure on each side of the middle line, when the animal is running or walking, and this pressure, together with the concussion with the ground, appears to have permitted the protru- sion of the middle line in the form of a keel, while the K1NE TO GENESIS. 293 lateral parts have been supported and even com- pressed. The reptilian ancestors of the mammals do not possess these keels. Now, I have shown that the lines of mammalian descent displayed by paleontology are characterized, among other things, in most instances, by the gradual elevation of the heel above the ground, so that the animal walks on its toes. It is evident that in this case the concussion of running is applied more directly on the ends of the bones of the foot than is the case where the foot is horizontal. As a consequence we find the keel is developed farther forward in such ani- mals. But in many of these, as the Carnivora, hip- popotamus, and the camels, there is developed under the toes a soft cushion, which greatly reduces this con- cussion. In these species the keel makes no further progress. In other lines, as those of the horse, the pig, and of the ruminants, the ends of the toes are ap- plied to the ground, and are covered with larger hoofs, which surround the toe, and the cushion is nearly or quite dispensed with. These animals are especially distinguished by the fact that their metapodial keels extend entirely round the end. of the bone, dividing the front, as well as the end and back (Fig. 71) ; since the front of the metapodial is out of the reach of the sesamoid bones, its keel would seem to be a mould- ing to the groove of the first phalange, which is itself moulded by the middle and posterior part of the meta- podial keel (Wortman.) A third and similar example is furnished by the elbow-joint of the Quadrumana and Diplarthra. In the lower Mammalia, including the Carnivora (Fig. 73), the distal end of the humerus presents a subme- dian groove, which receives the ulna, and on the inner 294 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. side of it, a more or less convex surface, which is ap- plied to the head of the radius. The coronoid process of the ulna is narrow, and its dense bounding walls impinge on the broad face of the humeral condyle in flexion and extension, and transfers to it the force of impact when the foot strikes the ground. In either case strong pressure has been brought to bear on the humeral condyle, and it has yielded to the denser body of the ulna, thus forming the groove in question. In such Mammalia the effect of impact of the limb on the ground has been to impress the head of the radius on the humeral condyle upwards. The dense edges of the former have im- pressed themselves on the latter, while the unsupported middle portion has yielded in the direc- tion of gravity, and the result is what we find, i. e., a cup-shaped surface of the head of the radius, and a convexity of the humeral condyle adapted to it. Among specializations of the elbow-joint, I call attention to two. In Quadrumana the head of the radius, probably owing to continued supination of the manus, occupies a position at the external side of the coronoid process of the ulna, and impinges on the outer part of the condyle of the humerus. The con- cavity of its head, and the convexity of the humeral condyle, are visible as before, but a prominent tongue or keel, which has been called the intertrochlear crest, Fig- 73- — Elbow-joint of Crocuta maculatu L. (spotted hyena) seen from behind ; //, humerus ; r, radius ; it, ulna. Original. KINE TO GENESIS. separates the ulnar and radial surfaces of the humerus (Fig. 74). This keel occupies the groove or interval which separates the head of the radius from the coro- noid process of the ulna. It is plain that we have here another tongue and groove-joint, produced by the mu- tual adaptation of parts under strain, pressure, and impact. The other extreme of elbow-joint is found in that of the diplarthrous Ungulata (Fig. 75). Here the head of the radius, while retaining its normal position on the inner side of the fore-arm, is extended to the external side of the ulna and even beyond it, adapting it- self to the entire width of the humeral condyles. The same structure is found in the spe- cialized forms of both series of Diplarthra, the Perisso- dactyla and Artiodactyla. This expansion of the head of the radius appears to be in di- rect relation to the duration through long geologic ages Fig. 74.— Elbow-joint of chim- r ,1 i_ • i_ i panzee from behind. 01 the impacts which have affected the limbs of these, the swiftest of the Mam- malia. That the head of the radius should be spread so as to fit the entire surface of the humerus, under all circumstances, seems to be a mechanical necessity. But in addition to this we find a tongue- and-groove adaptation, in which the crest (which I have called the trochlear crest) articulates with a groove in the head of the radius. The internal articulation of the humerus with the radius has the usual form, convex and con- cave distad. The trochlear crest marks the external border of the olecranar groove of the humerus. But 296 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. the external part of the humeral condyles is converted into a roller which is set off from the trochlear crest by the abrupt contraction of its diameter ; while the cor- responding part of the head of the radius projects to fit it exactly. A probable explanation of the form of this roller may be derived from a consideration of the almost identical structure of the meta- podio-phalangeal articulation of the Artiodactyla. The internal and external sides of the distal metapodial condyles are not sim- ilar, the external being more strongly impressed than the in- ternal (Fig. 7yD). This is simply due to the unequal pressure ex- erted on the two extremities of the condyle by the phalanges, owing to the divergent direction of the digits when serving as a support. In the distal end of the humerus the same effect is seen, the external part of the con- 75.— Elbow-joint of eiaphus (red deer) dyle nearly resembling the corre- from behind. sponding part of the metapodial bones. This is traceable to the same cause, viz. : the divergent position assumed by the fore arm on the hu- merus, when the weight is supported on one fore leg only. This brings the line of pressure through the ex- ternal part of both the head of the radius and the hu- meral condyle (Fig. 77A). That the higher ungulates are ''knock-elbowed' may be readily observed by watching their gaits (Fig. 76). KINE TOGENESIS. 297 A distinct consequence of combined impact and strain is seen in the evolution of the carpus and tarsus of the Diplarthra. In primitive Mammalia, as in most Unguiculata, the bones of the carpus and tarsus succeed each other in such a way that the principal lines of separation be- tween the elements coincide in the two rows, thus producing a linear relation be- tween the former. In the Diplarthra, on the other hand, the ele- ments of the two rows alternate with each other so as to produce a strong interlocking. I have shown that in the primitive Ungu- lata, the Taxeopoda, the linear arrange- ment is observed, while in three orders of ungulates, the Pro- boscidea, Toxodontia, Fig. 76. — Cervus canadensis in motion : from Muybridge's Animal Motion ; showing and Amblypoda, there the " knock-elbow " position of the fore leg, in both plantation and recover. are various degrees of alternation intermediate between the linear type of the Taxeopoda and the completely interlocked condition of the Diplarthra. It has been already pointed out in the chapter on phylogeny that the taxeopodous type 298 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. of foot preceded the diplarthrous in time. Besides the alternation mentioned, it is quite general in both types for the metapodial bones to possess a facet for con- tact with that element of the carpus and tarsus next exterior to the one to which they have their principal articulation. From these facts it is evident that the bones of the second carpal and tarsal rows have, in Fig. 77. — Cervus elaphus ; A, B, C, humero-radial articulation ; A and B, with the radius in position ; C, with radius twisted ; D. E, metatarsophalan- geal articulation ; D, front ; E, distal view, twisted. the process of evolution, assumed a position interior to their primitive position, with reference to the first row proximad to them, and the metapodials distad to them. The cause of this shifting of position is to be found in the movements of the limbs in progression, and especially in rapid progression (Fig. 78). If we observe the movements of the limbs in a KINE TO GENESIS. 299 diplarthrous ungulate, we shall see that as the foot is planted on the ground the prominent flexures of the limbs, the elbow and gambril joints, are turned in- Radius Ulna Scaphoid Lunar Cuneif. 2Y ip™ I Trapd Magi: Uncif. II III IV Pollex Index Med*. Ann'. Minim! Trap}1?1 Index Meds. Fig. 78. — Diagram of carpus of a Taxeopod (A) and (B) of a diplarthrous ungulate. From Osborn. wards, so that the limb, were it free from the ground, would be twisted or rotated on its long axis from within, forwards and outwards. As the foot rests on Fig- 79- — Raccoon pacing, showing right fore foot just before recovery. From H. Allen. the ground, the limb experiences a torsion strain in the directions mentioned. This throws the weight on the interior bones of the lower legs, the radius and the tibia. Thus these bones have acquired a great supe- 300 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. riority in dimensions over the external elements (ulna and fibula) in all the Diplarthra. The bones of the inner side of the first carpal and tarsal rows have thus transmitted an ever-increasing share of the impact, as the radius and tibia have developed, and have grown Fig. 80. Fig. 81. Fig. 80. — Rhinoceros unicornis carpus. Arrow ending in P, line of impact in plantation; do. ending in A", line of strain in recover. Fig. 81. — Equus caballus forefoot. Sc, scaphoid; L, lunar; Cu, cunei- form; Tffz, trapezium and trapezoideo ; Un, unciform ; ing., magnum. with their growth at the expense of the external ele- ments, the cuneiform in the carpus, and the calcaneum in the tarsus, which have become very narrow elements in the higher Diplarthra. As the pressure has been obliquely from within outwards, the growth of the proximal elements, the scaphoid and lunar in front, 302 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. and the astragalus behind, has been in the same direc- tion. It has been shown by Dr. H. Allen that just before the recover of the foot, the latter is directed outwards from a line parallel with the axis of the body, so that the weight falls on the inner part of the sole of the former. This naturally causes the bones of the foot to press inwards on the heads of the metapodials, so that the latter tend to grow outwards on the second tarsal row. In this way were produced the facets on the external side of the heads of the metapodials. Thus is accounted for, on simple mechanical princi- ples, the phenomenon of carpal and tarsal displace- ment exhibited in its highest development, by the Dip- larthra. It is significant that diplarthrism has not appeared in mammals which possess an elastic pad of connec- tive tissue on the soles, as in Unguiculata generally, and especially in the Carnivora. Diplarthrism is pres- ent in the camels, which have a pad, but I have shown that this pad did not appear until a comparatively late geologic epoch, and long after diplarthrism had be- come established in the camels' ancestors, the Poebro- theriidae. The faceting of the head of the astragalus as the result of impacts, is seen on comparison of the astra- gali of Phenacodus and Hyracotherium in Ungulata (Figs. 33-35), and of Dissacus and Mesonyx among the Creodonta. In this last genus we have the only faceted astragalus among carnivorous mammals, but this genus is at the same time subungulate. b. The Forms of Vertebral Centra. The mutual articulations of the vertebral column are those of the centra and of the zygapophyses. Many KINE TO GENESIS. 303 important modifications in these articulations are to be seen in Vertebrata, the Reptilia presenting the great- est variety, excepting in the zygapophyses, which are tolerably uniform in that class. In the Mammalia, modifications of the central articulations are not more striking than are those of the zygapophyses. The forms of central articulation are four, viz. : the amphicoelous, the ball-and-socket, the plane, and the saddle-shaped. The first type is only seen in a very imperfect degree in Mammalia and in but very few vertebrae, where it is indeed but a modification of the plane. The ball-and-socket is chiefly found in the neck of the long-necked Mammalia, as the higher Diplarthra, and to a less degree in their lumbar re- gions, while the dorsal vertebras present an approach to the same type in the same groups. The saddle- shaped centrum is only found in Mammalia in the necks of certain genera of monkeys. The majority of Mammalia present the plane articulation of all the ver- tebral centra. In Mammalia in which movement of the vertebrae on each other has become impossible, the centra co- ossify, as for instance in the sacrum. In this region the number of vertebrae coosified is directly as the length of the iliac bone, which supports and holds them im- movable. Such is their condition throughout the dorsal region in the extinct Edentata of the family Glyptodontidae, where the carapace is, as in the tor- toises, inflexible, and which therefore limits the possi- bility of motion of the vertebral column. Another illustration is seen in the necks of the balaenid Ceta- cea, and to some degree in the Delphinidae and Physe- teridae. The lack of present mobility of this part of the column is due to its extreme abbreviation, a char- 304 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. acter which has been gradually developing during Ce- nozoic time ; since the earliest Cetacea had consider- ably longer necks than the later ones, and had their vertebral centra distinct. It appears to me probable that the shortening was the result of disuse. This disuse would arise from gradually increasing powers of locomotion through the water, a progress, which, judging from the character of the limbs of the Zeuglo- don, was evidently made after the time of the Eocene. The increase of speed would enable the animal to over- take and capture its prey, without the necessity of using a long prehensile neck in seizing it in the pur- suit. The ball-and-socket articulation of the vertebrae is well known to be the predominant condition in the Reptilia, and the fact that it is necessarily associated with the flexibility of the column is equally well under- stood. The flexibility is directly as the weakness of the limbs, for in the large and long-limbed terrestrial Reptilia of the order Dinosauria, the vertebral articu- lations of the dorsal region, at least, are plane. That it is chiefly confined to, and best developed in, the most flexible regions, i. e., the cervical and lumbar, of the column of the Mammalia, also shows this neces- sary connection. There can be no doubt but that the ball-and-socket vertebral articulation has been pro- duced by constant flexures of the column in all direc- tions, as has been suggested by Marsh. ' iil. INCREASE OF SIZE THROUGH USE. Under this head I enumerate examples where the mechanical causes in operation are less self-evident than those included under the preceding section. They KINE TO GENESIS. 305 are, however, probably due to the same process, viz., impact and strain. a. The Proportions of the Limbs and of Their Segments. The length of the legs of terrestrial Mammalia has 'increased with the passage of time. The inferior types of Mammalia now existing, as Marsupialia, Glires, Insectivora, Edentata, have short legs, with a few cases of extreme specialization as exceptions, such as kangaroos, rabbits, and jerboas (hind legs only), the Dolichotis patachonica, the Rhynchocyonidse, and the sloths. In the orders which stand at the summit of the series, as the Diplarthra, Proboscidia, Carnivofa, and Anthropomorpha, the legs are much increased in length, and this is especially marked in certain forms which stand in all respects at the summit of their re- spective orders. Thus in Diplarthra, the deer, ante- lope, and horse are distinguished for length of limb ; in the Proboscidia, the elephant ; in the Carnivora, the large cats and hyaenas ; in the Anthropomorpha, the fore limbs are long in all, the hind ones especially so in man. The cause of this elongation is apparently use. It is the hind legs that are elongated in a straight line in animals that walk on them, as man ; and both, in those . that walk on both, as the elephant. In animals that leap with the hind legs these are still more elongated, and are folded when at rest, and rapidly extended when in motion. In animals that climb with the fore legs, these are elongated, as in the Anthropomorpha, except man. In those that climb with all fours, all are elongate, as in the sloths. It must be remembered that these elongations are the sum of increments added one to the other through long ages of use in geologic Lvfct- , 306 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. time. The mechanical character of that use has not been identical. It is of two principal kinds, viz.: im- pact and longitudinal strain. These two forms of en- ergy move in directions opposite to each other ; the -4 - < one as compression in the direction of the length of the bone ; the other, as a stretching in the direction of the length of the bone. Both processes alike appear to have stimulated growth in the direction of the length of the bone. The increase in the length of the legs has not been always due to increase in length of the same segment. In a majority of the higher mammals, the increase has been principally in the foot, and especially in the meta- podials and digits, producing digitigradism. In the forms which have remained plantigrade, the femur (Proboscidia), or femur and tibia (Quadrumana), or all three segments (Tarsius), have been the seat of the elongation. We can again trace these especial elonga- tions to special uses. In animals which leap, the dis- tal segments of the limbs are elongated; in those which do not leap, but which merely run or walk, it is the proximal segments of the limbs which are elon- gated. Animals which run by leaping are divided into those which run and leap with all fours, as Diplarthra ; and those which run and leap with the posterior limbs only, as the jerboas and kangaroos. In both types, the distal segments of the hind limb are elongated, and in the Diplarthra, those of the fore limb also. Animals which do not leap in progression (ele- phants, Quadrumana, bears) are always plantigrade, and have very short feet, but elongate thighs, and, mostly, tibias. These facts show that those elements which receive KINE TO GENESIS. 307 the principal impact in progression are those which increase in length. In digitigrade animals it is the loa which receive the impact of the repeated blows on the ,. -* 7T Ca •nu d-ft ' ./» ^ + J r? 3 O) n . 3 G 3 ana c 0 ftl 0. I •Si 3 I I 8 14 I s § KINE TO GENESIS. 309 j( while the feet beyond this point receive none, and do not support the body, except very partially at the mo- ment of leaving the earth. b. The Number of the Digits. The reduction in the number of toes is supposed to be due to the elongation of those which receive the greater number of strains and impacts in rapid pro- gression, and the complementary loss of material available for the growth of those not subject to this stimulus. This is rendered probable from the fact that the types with reduced digits are dwellers on dry land, and those that have more numerous digits are inhabitants of swamps and mud, or are more or less aquatic. That this inequality is due to these mechan- ical causes is still further indicated by the fact that in those forms where the soles are thickly padded (Car- nivora, Proboscidia) the reduction has either not taken place, or has made little progress, amounting to the loss of only one digit. (An apparent exception in the case of the camels will be mentioned later.) A still more important body of evidence which shows that the inequality in size and number of digits is due to impacts and strains unequally distributed, has been brought forward by Ryder. He points out that defi- nite results are to be observed in those limbs of a given type of animal which experience correspondingly defi- nite influences ; while in the limbs where the strains are equal, the modifications do not appear. Examples of this kind are to be found in the unguiculate Mam- malia and in the Marsupialia. Thus in the jerboas which use the hind limbs in leaping, these only dis- play reduced digits, the fore limbs remaining of prim- 3 1 o PR 1 MAR Y FA CTORS OF OR GANIC E VOL UTION. itive character. The same is true of the kangaroos. In digging genera, the fore limbs experience the modi- Fig. 85. — A, Right posterior foot of Prothippus sejunctus Cope, from Colo- rado, about one-half natural size. From U.S. Geological Survey of Territo- ries, F. V. Hayden, IV. B, Right posterior foot of Poebrotherium labiatum Cope, from Colorado, three-fifths natural size. From Hayden's Report, IV., Plate CXV. fications, while the hind limbs are more normal, as in Chrysochloris and various Edentata. KINE TO GENESIS. 3 1 1 Ryder sums up the evidence in two propositions, as follows : l "I. The mechanical force used in locomotion dur- ing the struggle for existence has determined the digits which are now performing the pedal function in such groups as have undergone digital reduction. "II. When the distribution of mechanical strains has been alike upon all the digits of the manus or of the pes, or both, they have remained in a state of ap- proximate uniformity of development." The application of the impact, or strain, or both, in progression, is easily understood. In recover (see p. 299), the leg is bent on the foot as it rests on the ground, and those digits which then leave the ground last, sustain greater strain than those which leave it sooner. In replacing the foot on the ground (planta- tion), those digits which strike it first experience greater force of impact than those which strike it later. Sup- posing the five primitive digits to have been of equal length, the distribution of the impact and of the strain will depend on the angle at which the foot is directed with reference to the direction of motion. If the feet are pointed forwards, the middle digits will experience strain and impact ; if outwards, the inner digits bear the weight ; if inwards, the external digits receive it. Observation on five-toed plantigrade mammals shows that their feet are turned neither inwards nor outwards in progression, but straight forwards. It is probable that the primitive* Mammalia moved in the same manner. This is also to be inferred from the fact that they were plantigrade, so that the leverage transversely in or out which results from the elevated heel of the digitigrade leg was very much less in them. lAmerzcan Naturalist, 1877, p. 607. 312 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. In progression of this type, the middle digits of course leave the ground last and strike it first. Thus the middle toes have been stimulated at the expense of the lateral ones, so that in the Diplarthra, either the mid- die one (Perissodactyla) alone remains, or the middle two (Artiodactyla). In the kangaroos the external toes have been chiefly used, so that the fourth and fifth digits have been principally developed. In man, who K1NE TO GENESIS. 3 1 3 now turns his feet out when using them as bases of re- sistance to muscular labor, the inner digit has become most robust. The mechanical history of the human great toe is however yet unknown. As regards the equal development of the third and fourth digits in the Artiodactyla, as distinguished from the development of the middle digit of the Perisso- dactyla, I have advanced the following hypothesis. I have supposed that the primitive members of this for- mer division sprung from pentadactyl plantigrades who dwelt in swamps and walked on very soft ground. The effect of progression in mud is to spread the toes equally in all directions and on each side of the me- dian line. Such feet remain in the mud-loving hippo- potamus, and to a lesser degree in the true pigs. From such ancestry the cloven-footed Diplarthra derived their characters. The Hyracotheriinae, the ancestors of all Perissodactyla, display on the other hand evi- dence of a life on harder ground, especially in the pos- terior foot, where articulations are already rigidly de- fined, and the third digit is longer than the others. Some of their descendants love swamps, as one or two species of tapirs and rhinoceroses, but others live on the dryest ground, as the Andean tapir and the African rhinoceros. As to the highest members of both even and odd toed groups, the Bovidae and the Equidae, their habitat is in the vast majority of cases the dry land (Figs. 80-81). Continued and excessive prehensile strain with weight on the longest digits, must be assigned as the cause of the especial elongation ; and disuse as the cause of the loss of the external and shorter digits, of the sloths ; so that there remain but two and three (Cholrepus and Bradypus), and in the climbing ant- 314 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION: eater (Cycloturus) but one principal toe and two rudi- ments. The excessive strain and impact experienced by certain digits in leaping, accounts for the digital reduction in the hinder foot of the kangaroos and jer- boas, precisely as in the perissodactyle ungulates. c. The Horns. Horns are developed in Mammalia and other Ver- tebrata on similar parts of the skull, principally on the posterior lateral angles, as in various Batrachia, Rep- tilia, and Mammalia, and on the nose, as in a few Mammalia and several reptiles, recent and extinct. These parts are the ones which are especially brought into contact with resisting bodies ; the nose in pushing a path or way for the head and body; the lateral occi- pital region in defence and assault, when the sensitive nose and eyes are protected by being held near the ground. In the latter position the posterolateral an- gles, when present, receive more frequent collision with, and vigorous stimulation from, a body attacked or resisted, and in accordance with the observed re- sults of irritation on dermal and osseous tissues, addi- tional matter has been deposited. In Lacertilia and Batrachia Salientia there are distinct posteroexternal cranial angles ; in Batrachia Urodela such angles are less prominent. In unguiculate Mammalia and in all others with a sagittal crest there are no such angles ; hence this type of skull has never developed posterior horns. The rhinoceros has developed the dermal nasal horn, and the Elasmotherium, a median osseous horn, since posterolateral angles of the skull are want- ing or close together. In the Dinocerata and the Ar- tiodactyla, where the temporal crests are lateral, leav- ing a wide fronto-parietal plane with posterior lateral KINETOGENESIS. 315 angles, horns are developed. In members of both groups horns have been developed over the orbits also (Fig. 87), and in the Dinocerata on the extremities of the nasal bones as well. These growths are all on parts which are subject to especial irritation by contact with other bodies, animate and inanimate. Among Artiodactyla, the deer (Cervidae) are espe- cially distinguished by the periodical shedding of all but the bases of their horns. Extinct forms found in the Upper Miocene of the United States and France (the Loup Fork series) furnish the explanation of the origin of this remarkable peculiarity. In the genus Cosoryx we find that the horns may or may not pos- sess a burr near the base of the beam, like that of the deer; the same species being indifferently with it or without it. This observation has been made on three species, — the C. necatus, C. fur cat us and C. ramosus. The following explanation of these facts has been pro- posed by myself.1 " From the facts of the case the following inference may be derived, premising that it is very probable that a genus allied to the present one has given origin to the family of the deer. It is ob- vious that the horns of (Dicrocerus) Cosoryx did not possess a horny sheath as in the Bovidae, from the fact of their being branched. As the sheath grows by ad- dition at the base, the presence of branches which necessarily obstruct its forward movement, would be fatal to the process. There is much to be said in favor of the view that the horns were covered with an integu- ment, probably furred, as in the giraffe and young stage in the deer. Thus there are grooves in the sur- face of the beam for superficial blood-vessels, which 1 U. S. G. G. Survey West of the tooth Mer., G. M. Wheeler : IV., Paleon- tology, 1877, p. 348. 316 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION-. must have been protected by skin (I do not observe these grooves on the beam of C. teres}. The retention of the broken extremity of an antler, so as to be re- united, as described (Fig. 87, C), could not have been accomplished without an integument. The presence of the burrs cannot be accounted for on any other supposition, as there are no foramina to give exit to nutrient vessels at the point where they exist; the irregularity of those positions also forbids the latter idea, and adds to the probability that the arteries which furnished the deposit of phosphate of lime were contained in a super- ficial dermal coating. The supposition is also strengthened by the fact that the only existing &?'~~»' B^Tyx T Le/5dn ruminants (the giraffes) A, without, B, with, burr on antler; C, D, Cosoryx ramosus Cope; C, antler broken with permanent homs and reunited; Z>, beam with burr; one- without horny sheaths half natural size; original; trom Keport U. S. Gov. Geol. Expl. looth Mer., G. M« have them COVCred with Wheeler- hairy skin. " It appears that in the antlers of the Cosoryx the deposit of a burr was immediately associated with the death of the portion of the horn beyond it, so that it disintegrated and disappeared. This was not the case with the beam in the specimens observed. Neverthe- KINE TO GENESIS. 3 1 7 less it is probable that the death of the horn would be associated with the deposit of the burr in this case also, were the conditions the same. What those con- ditions were we can only surmise. It was very prob- ably the death of the integument which invested and nourished the horn that produced that result ; and this would more readily occur in the exposed antlers than in the more protected basal portion of the beam. It is very probable that this result would follow blows and laceration of the surface received during combat, or accidental contact with hard substances. The in- tegument would be stripped up to near the junction of the antlers with each other, or of the beam with the cranium, and the arteries would be constricted or closed at those points. It is near these junctions that all of the burrs are found. But as such lesion would be necessarily less complete at the point where the horn has greatest circumference, so the entire death of the horn might be less usual than that of the branches. Should such lesions have occurred for a long period at the breeding season, nature's efforts to repair by redeposit of bony tissue might as readily be- come periodical as the increase in size and activity of the reproductive organs and other growths which char- acterize the breeding season in many animals. The subsequent death of the horn would be at some time followed by its shedding by the ordinary process of sloughing." Cosoryx is not the true ancestor of the Cervidae, as its teeth have already attained the prismatic type of the higher Bovidae. But Blastomeryx is most prob- ably the ancestor of the deer. The remains of this genus occur with those of Cosoryx, but the burr has not yet been observed on its horns. 318 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. IV. THE MECHANICAL ORIGIN OF DENTAL TYPES. In investigating the origin of dental types it is necessary to become acquainted with the nature of the mutual moyements of the series of the opposing jaws. I have classified them as follows : l I. Inferior molars work within superior molars, but not between them. Psalidodect mastication. 1. The inferior molars shear on the interior side of the su- perior : Triconodontidce. II. Part or all of inferior molars work alternately to and between superior molars. Amoebodect mastication. 2. The inferior molar shears forwards on the superior mo- lar. Proterotome mastication : Creodonta; Carnivora. 3. The inferior molars shear posteriorly against the superior molars. Opisthotome mastication : Coryphodontida, Uintatheriidtc. III. Molar teeth of both jaws oppose each other. Antiodect mas- tication. 4. The movement of the lower jaw is vertical. Orthal mas- tication : Suotdea, Tapiridte. 5. The movement of the lower jaw is from without inwards. Ectal mastication : many Peris so da cty la. 6. The movement of the lower jaw is from within outwards. Ental mastication : most Artiodactyla; some Perrissodactyla. 7. The movement of the lower jaw is from before backwards. Proal : some Monotremata Multittibercitlata and most Glires. 8. The movement of the lower jaw is from behind forwards. Palinal : Proboscidea (Ryder). The distinction of teeth into incisors, canines, and molars appears independently at various points in the line of Vertebrata. Incisors and molars are distin- 1 Median. Origin Hard Parts of Mammalia, 1889, p. 226. KINETOGENESIS. 319 guished in sparoid fishes, and in placodont and dia- dectid reptiles. Canine-like teeth, or pseudo-canines, appear in clepsydropid and crocodilian reptiles, and in saurodont fishes. Canine-like incisors appear in the Clepsydropidae. The variety of character in these structures presented by the Mammalia to be consid- ered is great, and the principles deduced from obser- vation of them are applicable to the Vertebrata in general. As mechanical causes of the origin of dental modi- fications, I have enumerated the following : 1. Increase of size of a tooth, or a part of a tooth, is due to increased use, within a certain maximum of capacity for increased nutrition. 2. The change of direction and use of a tooth take place away from the direction of greatest, and in the direction of least resistance. 3. It follows, from their greater flexibility, that crests of crowns of teeth yield to strains more readily than do the cusps. 4. The increase in the length of crests and cusps in all directions, and therefore the plications of the same, is directly as the irritation from use to which their apices and edges are subjected, to the limit set by the destructive effects of such use, or by the re- cuperative energy of nutrition. 5. The direction of growth of the branches of a V, or of the horns of a crescent, will be the direction of movement of the corresponding parts of the opposite jaw. Before giving a review of the various dental types of Mammalia, I wish to describe some special exam- ples where the effect of mechanical causes is most ob- vious. I therefore first repeat the observation of Ryder 320 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION, as to the origin of the selenodont molars of the Artio- dactyla ; and my own as to the origin of a similar structure in the molars of certain multituberculate Pro- totheria. In the former the mastication is ental ; in the latter it is proal, as shown by Osborn. In the accompanying figure from Ryder the move- ments of the lower jaw in mastication of lophodonts, are diagrammatically represented, a represents the movement in Carnivora, and in the orthal bunodonts, as the pigs, b shows a slight lateral movement be- lieved by Ryder to exist in the wart hog (Phacochce- '; \! Fig. 88. — Diagram of excursion of lower jaw in mastication; from Ryder; a-b, orthal ; c-f, ental. rus). c represents the movement in kangaroos, pha- langers, and tapirs. In d a theoretical intermediate movement is represented, such as Ryder supposed to have characterized the Anchitherium. In e the usual movement among ruminants is depicted, as is seen in the deer, etc. In f the wider excursion of the jaw is that seen in the giraffe, camel, and ox. In these move- ments from b to/, the lower jaw is moved transversely across the upper jaw from one side to the other. Some of the Diplarthra masticate on one side of the jaw when performing this movement, and some on the other. That is, in passing the lower jaw across the face of the upper, some masticate the food on the side KINE TO GENESIS. 321 where the external face of the lower jaw crosses the upper jaw from within outwards (ental); while in other types the food is masticated on the side where the lower jaw passes the external edge of the upper jaw from without inwards (ectal). While masticating with one side of the jaws, the opposing dental series of the other side are not in contact. All mutual effect of the teeth of one jaw on the other could therefore appear on the side temporarily used for mastication only. Among recent Un- gulata the rumi- nants present the ental mastication ; the rhinoceros and horses, the ectal ; and rodents, the proal. Ryder is of the opinion that the mastication of the Proboscidia is pali- nal, but I have not been able to satisfy myself of this. When the crests of the inferior molars were devel- oped, their relation to the crests of the superior molars was always anterior in mastication. That is, the in- ferior crest, in the closing of the jaw, collides with the crest of the upper molar, with its posterior edge against the anterior edge of the latter. This is because : first, as to position, the two anterior cusps of the lower molar are the remains of the anterior triangle which fit originally between two superior molars, and be- cause, in the closing of the jaw, these cusps continue to hold that position ; and second, as to function, be- Fig. 89. — Cervus, molars : a, superior, exter- nal view ; b, do. inferior view; c, inferior molars, superior view ; from Ryder. 322 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. cause the canine in the ungulate series diminishes in size, and does not, therefore, draw the inferior molars forwards by wedging on the superior molar, as in the Carnivora, but allows free scope to the posterior trac- tion of the temporal muscle in its exercise on the lower jaw. In those forms which masticate from the inside out- wards (the ental type), the cusps of the inferior molars, passing between those of the superior molars, would tend to flatten the sides on which they exerted fric- tion, and to extend those sides outwards beyond the median apex of the cusp. (Fig. 90.) The result would be, and taking into view the yielding of the tissue to Fig. 90. — Cusps of superior premolars and molars : /?, external cusps of molar of Sarcothraustes ; l>, of Phenacodus ; c, of Anthracotherium ; it, of Oreodon ; c, half of inferior molar of Cervus;,/", superior premolar of Cory- phodon ; from Ryder. such strain, has been, to modify the shape of the cusp by pushing its side walls, so that a horizontal section of it would become successively more and more cres- centic. The effect on the inferior teeth would be to produce the same result in their external cusps, but in the opposite direction. The sides of the cusps would be pushed inwards, past the apex, giving a crescentic section more or less perfect, as the operation of the cause had been of long or short duration. The result of the lateral movement in mastication may be under- stood by reference to the accompanying cut, Fig. 91. The external crescents of the inferior molars (3) are seen to pass between the internal crescents of the KINE TO GENESIS. 323 superior molars (a). The mutual interaction and effect on the form of the crescents may be readily under- stood. In Fig. go the successive stages of this effect Fig. 91. — Two true molars of both jaws of a ruminant : a, superior molars, their inner crescents ; /', inferior molars, their external crescents ; the arcs show directions of motion of jaws in mastication ; from Ryder. on one or two cusps may be seen, beginning with a cone (a] and terminating with crescents (ef). Thus is the origin of the selenodont dentition of the highest c— Fig. 92. — Transverse vertical sections of superior molar teeth, showing transition from bunodont (A) type to lophodonts (/?, C). A. SHS erymanthius. B, Ovis amalthcus. C, Bos tattrus. From Gaudry. Letters : d, dentine ; e, enamel ; c, cementum. artiodactyle explained by Ryder, and, I believe, cor- rectly. Kowalevsky and I have shown that the types with selenodont (crescent-bearing) molars, have descended 324 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. from tubercle-bearing (bunodont) ancestors. This de- scent has witnessed an increased depth of the infold- ing of the crown, as represented in the accompanying figure. Now, in the table of masticatory types above given it is shown that in the bunodont type of the Suoidea the mastication is orthal, and a gradual in- crease in the length of the lateral excursions of the lower jaw has been shown to have resulted in the ental mastication. Thus has structure kept pace with func- tion in the evolution of the selenodont dentition. Fig- 93-~ Chirox plicatus Cope, palate and molar teeth from below, three- halves natural size. From Puerco bed of New Mexico. From American Nat- uralist, 1887, p. 566. The general structure of the dentition in the Proto- theria Multituberculata is similar to that of the Glires. The incisors in the Plagiaulacidae, Chirogidae, and Poly- mastodontidae have structure and functions generally similar to those of that order. The result in the form and function of the molar dentition has been sim- ilar to that observed in the Glires. The postglenoid process is probably absent in these animals ; in any case the mandibular condyle is rounded, and is not transverse. Prof. H. F. Osborn has pointed out to me that mastication was performed by a fore-and-aft KINE TO GENESIS. 325 movement of the inferior molars on the superior in Plagiaulacidae. This was no doubt the case in the other families named. The molar teeth of the lower types, as Tritylodon from the Trias, present conical tubercles in longitudinal series, two in the lower and three in the upper jaw. The two series of the lower jaw alternate with the three in the upper jaw, moving in the grooves between the latter, while the three se- ries of the upper molars reciprocally embrace the two of the lower molars. This is demonstrated by the mutual wear of the tubercles seen in Ptilodus and Chirox (Fig. 93). The trituration was probably the same in Tri- tylodon, but in Polymastodon the increased thickening of the tubercles prevented their interlocking action in masti- cation. In this genus the tu- bercles slid over each other, and truncated the apices Until in Old Specimens they twice natural size. R,M,-niscoesszis, , • i T second species, from Osborn. were entirely worn away. In Meniscoessus (Fig. 94) and Stereognathus we have an interesting illustration of the effect of the action of cusps on each other when under prolonged mutual lateral thrust. Their external sides have been drawn out into angles in the direction of thrust, converting their transverse sections from circles to crescents. As the thrust is in the Multituberculata longitudinal, the crescents are transverse to the axis of the jaw. In the selenodont Artiodactyla, where the thrust is transverse to the line of the jaw, the crescents are longitudinal. That similar effects should accompany similar move- Fig. 94. — A, Mi tiiscoessusconquis- tus Cope, last two superior molars, from the Laramie of Wyoming, 326 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. ments in two groups of Mammalia so widely separated as these two is strong evidence in favor of the belief that the two facts stand in the relation of cause and effect. I now present an example of the effect of strain, as shown by the direction of the inferior incisors of the lemurine Quadrumana. These teeth project horizon- tally from the extremity of the mandible, so as not to oppose the superior incisors, in consequence of which they are useless as organs of prehension. But they Fig- 95- — Lemur collaris, dentition from below and above; natural size; original. are used by their possessors as a comb for the fur, drawing them from below upwards when thus employ- ing them. The strain is always in one direction, and must have resulted in developing the procumbent posi- tion which they now display (Fig. 95). This is a di- rect deduction from the fact that the incisor teeth are similarly displaced by the pressure of the tongue in cases of the abnormal enlargement of that organ in man. I now describe the general character of mammalian dentition, with the view of pointing out how strong, in KINE TO GENESIS. 327 the light of the facts already cited, is the evidence of their origin through mechanical strains and impacts. a. The Origin of Canine Teeth, The origin of canine, pseudo-canine, and canine- like incisor teeth is due to the strains sustained by them on account of their position in the jaws at points which are naturally utilized in the seizing of prey, or the righting of enemies. In some reptiles (Dimetro- don) the end of the muzzle has been utilized ; in croco- diles, the side of the jaw ; while the intermediate position has been most used by Mammalia. The rea- son why the canine instead of the incisor teeth have been selected by carnivorous Mammalia for prehensile purposes is not at present clear to me. In accordance with Rule I., its increased size has been due to the especial and energetic strains to which it has been subjected while in use as a prehensile or offensive weapon, when buried in the body of its prey or enemy. The superior canine would acquire larger size earlier in time than the inferior canine, since it bears the greater part of such strain, as attached to the more fixed head and body of its possessor. The anterior teeth of the lower jaw would be less available for use, since they offer weaker and less fixed resistance to the opposing body. That the first tooth behind the canine was not generally enlarged is (under I.) due to the fact that its posterior position prevents it from having the same amount of use, and experiencing the strain that a tooth more anteriorly placed necessarily re- ceives. It is excluded from considerable use by the projecting muzzle above and in front of it. That it was not drawn out into a horizontal position was due to the presence of teeth anterior to it. 328 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. That the increased size of canine teeth is due to strains is strongly indicated by the huge development of these teeth in the walrus. This animal uses its ca- nines for the breaking of ice, and for lifting itself from the water on to the edge of strong ice. The fact that canines and not incisors have been thus developed is a necessary result of the fact that the walrus is a de- scendant of a line of animals which had already re- duced incisors and larger canines. Fig. 96. — Esthonyx burmeisterii Cope, dentition: a, profile; b, superior; c, inferior dentition, grinding faces. Reduced. b. Development of the Incisors. The history of the incisor teeth of the Mammalia exhibits three processes, viz. : hypertrophy (e. g. Glires), specialization (e. g. Galeopithecus, Lemur- idae), and atrophy (e. g. Booidea, Phacochcerus, Glos- sophaga, etc.). KINE TO GENESIS. 329 Of hypertrophy we have two types : the first repre- sented by the Glires, Multituberculata, Tillodonta and their ancestors; and second, by the Proboscidia, the narwhal and certain Sirenia. As the uses of the inci- sors present two types corresponding with their struc- ture, we have ground for believing the uses in question to have been the efficient agent in producing the lat- ter. Esthonyx furnishes us with an example (Fig. 96) where all the incisors are present in the lower jaw, and a Fig. 97. — PsittacotJierium multifragum Cope, mandibular ramus, one-half natural size; a, profile; />, from above. where the function of one pair of them (the second) has evidently been partially rodent in character; that is, it has served as a scraper and gouger of food sub- stances. Persistent use has apparently developed the size of this pair of teeth, until we find in Psittacothe- rium (Fig. 97) they have reached a greater efficiency, and that the external incisors of the lower jaw have disappeared. This disappearance can be accounted for on the ground of disuse, a retirement from service due to position, and the increased growth of incisor 330 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. No. 2. In Calamodon the first incisor has become ru- dimentary from the same cause, and in Anchippodus it has disappeared altogether, leaving a truly rodent incisor dentition, consisting of the second incisors only, in the lower jaw. Continued use as chisels has developed these teeth to the great proportions seen in such Glires as Castoroides, etc. (Fig. 107). The use which the Proboscidia and Sirenia (Hali- core) give their incisors, is, from a mechanical point of view, like that which the Carnivora give their ca- nines ; that is, it consists of impacts in the long axis, and strains transverse to the long axis of the tooth. The elephants use their tusks for prying up the vege- tables on which they feed, or for pushing aside the vegetation through which they wish to pass. The an- cestors of the Proboscidia are not certainly known, but they possessed incisors of enlarged proportions, such as we find in the Toxodontia and other late rep- resentatives of some of the primitive Ungulata. Use of such teeth in the manner referred to, without oppo- sition from the inferior incisors, will account for the tremendous proportions which they ultimately reached in some of the species of Elephas. The use made by the narwhal of its single huge superior incisor, that of an ice-breaker, indicates the origin of its large, dimensions. So with the straight incisors of the hippopotamus ; use as diggers has straightened them to a horizontal from their primitive vertical direction, a change which is also partially ac- complished in the true pigs (Sus). In the Sirenian genus Halicore the upper incisors have been used in excavating vegetable growths from the banks and bottom of shallow seas. The transition from three incisors (Prorastomus) to two (Dioplothe- KINETOGENESIS. 331 rium), and to one (Halicore), is identical with what has taken place in the Proboscidia and Glires, and has resulted in the production of an effective digging- tool. In other genera it may be supposed that their habits of browsing on soft growing materials did not necessitate the use of digging incisors, hence these teeth became atrophied, as in the manatee and Rhy- tina. c. Development of Molars. In fishes and reptiles where teeth occasionally pre- sent very primitive conditions, the theory of the origin of particular types of molar teeth is more simple than in the case of Mammalia. The observations of Hiiter on the action of osteoblasts under stimulus show that under moderate irritation osseous tissue is deposited, while under severe pressure osseous tissue is removed. Koelliker has shown that the action of these bodies is the same in dentine as in true bone. Hence modifica- tions of dental structure must stand in close relation to the uses to which they are put. Thus severe pressure on a simple tooth crown would, if long continued, cause it to expand laterally, or in the direction of least re- sistance, and to grow but little in its vertical axis, i. e., in the direction of greatest resistance. The molar teeth have been subjected to much more severe direct irritation from use than any others in the jaws, and this will account for their increased diameters. In the case of the eutherian Mammalia, molar teeth are not traceable back to ancestral types of reptilian mo- lars, but to simple conic (haplodont) reptilian teeth. The process of the evolution of the complex mamma- lian molars from these, forms the subject of a paper in the American Journal of Morphology for 1889, from which I quote extensively in the present work. 332 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. I have there shown that the greater number of the types of this series have derived the characters of their molar teeth from the stages of the following succes- sion. First a simple cone or reptilian crown, alternat- ing with that of the other jaw (haplodont type). Sec- ond, a cone with lateral denticles (the triconodont type). Third, the denticles to the inner or outer side of the crown, forming a three-sided prism, with tritu- bercular apex, which alternates with that of the oppo- site jaw (tritubercular type). Fourth, development of a heel projecting from the posterior base of the lower jaw, which meets the crown of the superior, forming a tuberculosectorial inferior molar. From this stage the carnivorous and sectorial dentition is derived, the tritubercular type being retained. Fifth, the develop- ment of a posterior inner cusp of the superior molar and the elevation of the heel of the inferior molar, with the loss of the anterior inner cusp. Thus the molars become quadritubercular, and opposite. This is the type of many of the Taxeopoda, including the Quadrumana and Insectivora as well as the inferior Diplarthra. The higher Taxeopoda (Hyracoidea) and Diplarthra, add various complexities. Thus the tu- bercles become flattened and then concave, so as to form V's in the section produced by wearing ; or they are joined by cross-folds, forming various patterns. In the Proboscidia the latter become multiplied so as to produce numerous cross-crests. d. Origin of the Carnivorous Dentition. The anterior cusplet of the triconodont crown is (Fig. 98 A), in the upper jaw, the paracone, and in the lower jaw the paraconid ; and the posterior cusplet is the metacone or metaconid, respectively. As the prin- KINETOGENESIS. 333 cipal cusps, or protocone and protoconid, alternate with each other, the cusplets stand opposite to them in the closing of the jaws, and a certain amount of interfer- ence results. As the lesser cusps are the less resistant to the wedging pressure of such contact, their position would change under its influence, rather than the large central cusps. The lower jaw fitting within the upper, the effect of the collision between the major cusps of the one jaw, and cusplets of the other, would be to emphasize the relation still more ; that is, the cusplets of the upper jaw would be wedged outwards, while those of the lower jaw would be pressed inwards, the major cusps retaining at first their original alternate position. With increase of the size of the teeth the cusps would soon assume in each jaw a position more or less transverse to that of the other jaw, producing, as a result of the crowding, a crown with a triangular section in both. The process may be rendered clear by the following diagram : B C Fig. 98. — Diagrammatic representations of horizontal sections of tricuspi- date molars of both jaws in mutual relation ; the shaded ones represent those of the upper jaw : A, Triconodon ; B, Menacodon ; C, ideal tritubercular mo- lars, approached by Menacodon, B. It is supposed on the contrary by Rose and Kiiken- thal that mammalian molars which support more than one cusp have been formed by the fusion of several simple reptilian cones. So far as regards the higher Mammalia this hypothesis is in opposition to all the facts of paleontology and is not worthy of discussion, 334 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. The only question that can arise is with reference to the origin of the multituberculate molar of the Proto- theria. It is further questioned by Forsyth-Major, whether the tritubercular molar has been derived from the tri- conodont. He believes, on the contrary, that it is de- rived from the multitubercular type by reduction. There are two objections to this view : (i) the cones of the tritubercular tooth or trigon should be subequal, were they derived from a multitubercular source. On the contrary, the two external cones of the upper, and the two inner cones of the lower series are in the earliest (Jurassic), as well as most of the tritubercular types, smaller than the single opposite cusp or proto- cone, precisely as are the anterior and posterior cones of the triconodont molar. (2) No paleontologic series from the multitubercular to the tritubercular types has been traced, while the series from the triconodont to the tritubercular is well known. Forsyth-Major's evi- dence that such a transition exists in the Glires, is better explained by tracing the moderate complexity he describes to a tritubercular origin. It is also alleged by Allen and Scott that the inter- nal cusps of the premolars, when present, originate by the development of internal cingula, and have no prim- itive tritubercular ancestry. The evidence at our dis- posal from paleontological sources is in favor of this view; hence it is reasoned that the history of the mo- lar teeth must have been identical. This however does not follow, especially as the paleontologic evidence points the other way. The history of the two series has been different. In the first place the premolars have been subjected to much less use than the true molars ; hence they retained the primitive reptilian KINE TO GENESIS. 335 simplicity for a much longer period, a simplicity which they retain in the Carnivora, except the J-, which be- came the sectorial. Secondly, the premolars, instead of increasing in size, have in many types decreased ; the Diplarthra alone presenting an exception to this rule. That the internal cusps of the premolars may have arisen by growth of cingula in this order, is by no means improbable. We seem to have here an excel- lent illustration of the origin of two identical struc- tures by different evolutionary routes. The first modification of the tritubercular molar of the lower jaw is the addition of a low cingulum at the posterior base. This is seen in a rudimentary condi- tion in various living species of the Centetidae and Chrysochloridae of the insectivorous order (Fig. 100); but in these existing forms the superior molar has added a posterior cingulum also, which widens inter- nally, or towards the palate (Fig. 101). In the evolu- tion of the dentition, the inferior posterior cingulum, or "heel," was developed first, as in the Deltatherium, Centetes, and Stypolophus (Figs. 99, 100, 102), where it is quite large; while the superior cingulum is want- ing in Stypolophus and Didelphodus, but is present in a very rudimentary condition in Deltatherium fundami- nis. In all of these genera the external cusps of the superior series have been pressed inwards, and more or less together, and are therefore removed in this re- spect from the primitive condition. The more primi- tive state of the superior cusps is seen in some species of Mioclaenus, where, however, a posterior cingulum may be developed. The primitive type of tritubercular superior molar is that of Sarcothraustes, and in the same genus the inferior molar only differs from the primitive type in having a well-developed heel. Among 336 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. recent Mammalia the carnivorous and insectivorous Marsupialia generally have the tritubercular lower mo- lar with heel. In the Chiroptera and many Insectivora the heel is largely developed, and supports two cusps, as it does in some Creodonta. d Fig- 99- — Deltatherium fundaminis Cope, fragmentary skull, two-thirds natural size ; from the Puerco bed of New Mexico. a,b, c, from one individ- ual; d, from a second animal; a, right side of cranium; b, palate from be- low ; c, mandible, part from above ; d, left ramus, outer side ; from the Re- port of the U. S. Geol, Surv. Terrs., Vol. III. From this point the evolution of the tritubercular molar must be considered from two standpoints. The first is the mechanical cause of the changes of its form ; and the second is the mechanical cause of its definite KINE TO GENESIS. 337 location in a particular part of the jaw. For it has been already stated that in the evolution of the secto- rial dentition of the Carnivora, the number of molars and premolars has considerably diminished, while those that remain have become relatively much larger. In the tritubercular dentition the crowns proper of one jaw alternate with those of the other (Fig. 100); but when heels are added in either jaw, they will op- pose such part of the crowns of the teeth in the oppo- B Fig. 100. — Ccntetes ecaudatus: A, skull, side seen obliquely from below; B, superior molars from below ; C, inferior molars from above. site jaw as comes in contact with them when in use. The development of the heel in the inferior molars produced a type which is known as the tuberculosec- torial. This type characterizes the Creodonta and a few Carnivora. In the former there are generally three such teeth, in the latter but one. In the tuberculosectorial type of inferior molar the primitive tritubercular part of the crown (trigonid of Osborn) stands principally anterior to the posterior 338 PR IMA RY FAC TORS OF OR GA NIC E VOL UTION. root of the tooth. It appears that the posterior root has been extended backwards, so as to occupy a posi- tion below the middle of the superior molar, while the tritubercular crown has been confined to the space be- tween the crowns of the superior molars. This would follow of necessity from the alternating action of the crowns of the opposite series, in connection with a general increase in size of the teeth. In the opening of J en" Fig. 101. — Series of inferior molar crowns representing the transition from the simple (haplodont) to the quadritubercular. From Osborn. the jaws in a Creodont, the elevated portion of the in- ferior crown shears by its posterior face against the anterior face of the superior molar, thus restraining its extension posteriorly. The stimulus of use, however, develops a low extension posteriorly, or a heel, which covers the posterior root, and opposes in mastication the internal extremity or tubercle of the crown of the superior molar above it. Thus a molar element in KINE TOGENESIS. 339 mastication is added to the sectorial in some Creodonta, and in Canidae and Ursidae, etc., among Carnivora. This function predominates over that of the anterior triangle in the Lemuridae. (Fig. 95.) I have already pointed out the successive modifica- tions of form which have resulted in the existing spe- cialized single inferior sectorial tooth of the Felidae. They consist in the gradual obliteration of the poster- ior-internal cusp, and of the heel, and the enlargement of the external and anterior internal tubercles of the primitive triangle. The modification in the character of the dentition taken as a whole was shown to consist me pac / MC 'PAC poo Fig. 102. — Stypholophus whitiee Cope; diagram representing the apposition of the inferior and superior molars. The superior are in light, the inferior in heavy lines. The numbers represent the molars and premolars : C, canine; poc, protocone ; pac, paracone ; me, metacone ; POC, protoconid ; PAC, para- conid ; MC, metaconid ; he, hypocone ; HC, hypoconid. in the reduction of the number of the teeth, including the sectorials, until in Felis, etc., we have almost the entire function of the molar series confined to a single large sectorial in each jaw. The genesis of the superior sectorial tooth has been explained as follows. In consequence of the fact that the lower canine tooth shuts anterior to the superior canine, the result of the enlargement of the diameters of those teeth will be to cause the crowns of the inferior teeth to be drawn from behind forwards against those of the superior teeth when the jaw is closed (Fig. 102). Thus a shearing motion would re- 340 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION'. suit between the anterior external edge of the lower triangle and the posterior internal edge of the superior triangle. Now the characters of the true sectorial teeth consist in the enormous extension of these same edges in a fore and aft direction, the inferior shutting inside of the superior. To account for the development of these blades we must understand that the oblique pres- sure of the front edge of the lower tooth, on the hind edge of the superior tooth, has been continued for a very long time. We must then observe that the inter- nal tubercle of the superior triangle has been pushed continually forwards and been reduced to a very small size. Why should this occur? Why should not the corresponding tubercles of the inner side of the lower crown have been pushed backwards, since action and reaction are equal? The reason is clear : The superior tubercle is on the internal apex of the trigon, and is supported by but one root, while the resistant portion of the inferior crown is the base of the trigonid, and is supported by two, thus offering twice the resistance to the pressure that the superior does. But why should the anterior part of the inferior tooth move- forwards? even if it be in the direction of least resistance? This is due to the regular increase in size of the teeth them- selves, an increase which can be traced from the be- ginning to the end of the series. And this increase is the usual result of use (Fig. 102). The mechanics of the above proposition I believe to be correct, but I have had occasion to modify the statement as to the initiatory cause of the process. In many primitive Ungulata the canines have been as well developed as in the Carnivora, yet the forward pressure of the inferior molars on the superiors has not resulted, or has not been sufficient to produce sec- KINE TO GENESIS. torial molars in those types. In the Amblypoda, the lower molars even shear backwards on the upper ones. It seems then that this growth of the canines is not in all instances sufficient to cause a proterotome masti- cation. I suspect that the more usual cause is to be found in the voluntary effort of the primitive flesh- eater, to masticate flesh by the manipulation of his lower jaw and the body to be divided. The presence of the inferior canine forbids a posterior shearing move- ment of the molars, so that the anterior shear is the only one possible to most of the Creodonta. The ab- Fig. 103. — Cynodictis geismarianus Cope ; skull one-half natural size : a, right side; b, left side from below. sence of preglenoid crest in primitive Creodonta will permit a manipulation such as we observe in various ungulates to-day. The formation of a habit of a pro- terotome mastication would result, and the structural results would succeed as above pointed out. The excess of the forwards pressure of the inferior teeth against the superior over any backwards pres- sure, has left the posterior internal cusp of the triangle of the inferior molar (metaconid) without contact or consequent functional use. It has, consequently, grad- ually disappeared, having become small in the highest 342 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. Canidae, and wanting in some Mustelidae, and all Fe- lidae. The heel of the same tooth has had a similar history. With the diminution in size of the first supe- rior tubercular, with which it comes in opposition in mastication, its functional stimulus also diminished ; and it disappeared sometimes a little sooner (Felidae) and sometimes a little later (Hyaenidae) than that tooth. The specialization of one tooth to the exclusion of others as a sectorial, appears to be due to the follow- ing causes. It is to be observed in the first place that when a carnivore devours a carcass, it cuts off masses with its sectorials, using them as shears. In so doing « * 3 i. 3 Fig. 104. — Aehirodon scevus Leidy ; diagram representing coadaptation of crowns of superior and inferior molars in mastication ; lines and lettering as in Fig. 102. it brings the part to be divided to the angle or canthus of the soft walls of the mouth, which is at the front of the masseter muscle. At this point the greatest amount of force is gained, since the weight is thus brought immediately to the power, which would not be the case were the sectorial situated much in front of the mas- seter. On the other hand, the sectorial could not be situated farther back, since it would then be inacces- sible to a carcass or mass too large to be taken into the mouth. The position of the sectorial tooth being thus shown to be dependent on that of the masseter muscle, it re- mains to ascertain a probable cause for the relation of KINETOGENESIS. 343 the latter to the dental series in modern Carnivora. Why, for instance, were not the last molars modified into sectorial teeth in these animals, as in the extinct Hyaenodon, and various Creodonta. The answer ob- viously is to be found in the development of the pre- hensile character of the canine teeth. It is probable that the gape of the mouth in the Hyaenodons was very wide, since the masseter was situated relatively far posteriorly. In such an animal the anterior parts of the jaws with the canines had little prehensile power, as their form and anterior direction also indicates. They doubtless snapped rather than lacerated their enemies. The same habit is seen in the existing dogs, whose long jaws do not permit the lacerating power of the canines of the Felidae, though more effective in this respect than those of the Hyaenodons. The use- fulness of a lever of the third kind depends on the ap- proximation of the power to the weight ; that is, in the present case, the more anterior the position of the masseter muscle, the more effective the canine teeth. Hence it appears that the relation of this muscle to the inferior dental series depended originally on the use of the canines as prehensile and lacerating organs, and that its relative insertion has advanced from be- hind forwards in the history of carnivorous types. Thus it is that the only accessible molars, the fourth above and the fifth below, have become specialised as sectorials, while the fifth, sixth, and seventh have, firstly, remained tubercular as in the dogs, or, sec- ondly, have been lost, as in hyaenas and cats. The reduction of the number of molars in relation to the increase in the size of the canines commenced as early as the Jurassic period. It is seen in the gen- era Triconodon (Owen) and Paurodon (Marsh), where 344 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. KINE TO GRACES IS. 345 the canines are large and the molars few. In the Plagiaulacidae a similar relation is seen between the development of the incisors and the reduction in num- ber of the molars. This is the modification of relation observed in existing Mammalia of the orders Probos- cidia and Glires, which will be me'ntioned later, under the head of proal dentition. e. Origin of the Dental Type of tJie Glires. The peculiarities of the rodent dentition consist, as is well known, in the great development of the incisors ; 346 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. the loss of the canine and of all but one, or rarely of two, of the premolars, which leave a wide diastema ; and the posterior position of the molar teeth, as relates to the rest of the skull. A peculiarity which belongs to the highest types of the order is the prismatic form of the molars, and the deep inflection of their always transverse enamel folds both laterally and vertically. A peculiarity of the masticating apparatus, which is the basis of distinction from the bunotherian order, is the lack of postglenoid process, and the consequent freedom of the lower jaw to slide backwards and forwards in mastication. Appropriately to this motion the condyle of the mandible is either subglobular, or is extended anteroposteriorly, and the glenoid cavity is a longitudi- nal instead of a transverse groove. The mechanical action of the development of the rodent dentition has been as follows. The first factor in the order of time and importance was the increasing length of the incisor teeth. Those of the lower jaw closed behind those of the upper in the progenitors of the Glires (e. g. Psittacotherium) as in other Mamma- lia. Increase of length of these teeth in both jaws would tend to keep the mouth permanently open, were it not for the possibility of slipping the lower jaw backwards as it closed on the upper. This backward pressure had undoubtedly existed, and has operated from the earliest beginning of the growth of the rodent incisors. The process has been precisely the opposite of that which has occurred to the Carnivora, where the pres- sure has been ever forwards owing to the development of the canines. The progressive lengthening of the incisors through use has been dwelt on by Professor Ryder (/. r.). The posterior pressure on the lower jaw, produced by its closing on the upper, has been KINE TO GENESIS. 347 increased directly as the increase in the length of the incisors, especially those of the lower jaw. The first effect of this posterior pressure will have been to slide the condyle of the mandible posteriorly over the postglenoid surface, if any were present, as is probable, in the bunotherian ancestor of the rodent. Continued repetition of the movement would probably push the process backwards so as to render it ineffec- tive as a line of resistance, and ultimately to flatten it 348 PRIM A R Y FA C TORS OF ORGA NIC E VOL U7 ION. out against the otic bulla, and atrophy it. The lower jaw would thus come to occupy that peculiarly pos- terior position which it does in all rodents. The anteroposterior (proal1) type of mastication becoming necessary, an appropriate development of the muscles moving the lower jaw, with their inser- tions, follows, part passu. As a result we see that the insertion of the temporal muscle creeps forward on the ramus, until in the highest rodents (Cavia) it extends along the ramus to opposite the first true molars. The office of this muscle is to draw the ramus backwards and upwards, a movement which is commenced so soon as the inferior incisor strikes the apex of the su- perior incisor on the posterior side. By this muscle the inferior molars are drawn posteriorly and in close apposition to the superior molars. Connected with this movement, probably as an effect, we find the co- ronoid process of the mandible to have become grad- ually reduced in size to complete disappearance in some of the genera, e. g. of Leporidae. In these gen- era the groove-like insertion of the temporal muscle develops as the coronoid process disappears. As third and fourth effects of the posterior position of the lower jaw, we have the development of the in- ternal pterygoid and masseter muscles and their inser- tions and origins. The angle of the ramus being forced backwards, these muscles are gradually stretched back- wards at their insertions, and their contraction be- comes more anteroposterior in direction than before. The internal pterygoid becomes especially developed, and its point of origin, the pterygoid fossa, becomes much enlarged. The border of the angle of the man- dible becomes more or less inflected. In their effect IPage 318. KINE TO GENESIS. 349 on the movements of the ramus they oppose that of the temporal muscle, since they draw the ramus for- wards. They are the effective muscles in the use of the incisor teeth ; that is, in the opposition of the in- ferior incisors against the superior from below and posteriorly. Hence the great development of the in- ternal pterygoid, and, in a less degree, of the masse- ter. Both muscles tend also to close the jaws, but at a different point in the act of mastication from that at which the temporal acts. If we suppose the mouth to be open, the action of the masseter and internal pterygoid muscles draws the mandible forwards and upwards until the incisors have performed their office, or the molars are in contact with each other or with the food. They then relax, and their temporal muscle continues the upward pressure, but draws the ramus backwards to the limit set by the adjacent parts, caus- ing the act of mastication. A fifth effect of the development of the incisors and of the proal mastication, is seen in the position of the molar teeth. The indefinitely repeated strain and pressure applied to the superior molars from forwards and below has evidently caused a gradual extension of the maxillary bone backwards, so that the last molars occupy a position much posterior to that which they do in other orders of mammals. This is especially the case in such forms as Bathyergus, Arvicola, and Cas- toroi'des (Figs. 107-108), where the last molars are be- low the temporal fossa, and posterior to the orbit. A sixth effect of the causes mentioned has been re- ferred to by Ryder.1 This is the oblique direction of the axes of the molar teeth. These directions are op- posite in the two jaws ; upwards and forwards for the I Proceedings Philadelphia Academy, 1877, P- 3I4- 350 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. lower, and downwards and backwards for the upper. The mechanics of this change of direction from verti- cal in the primitive forms (Sciuridae) to oblique in the Fig. 108 — Castoroides ohioensis Foster ; two-thirds natural size ; skull from below, a, incisine foramen; b, pterygoid fossa ; c, internal pterygoid plates; ^/.fossa in basioccipital bone; e, external auditory meatus ;/, mastoid pro- cess; g, occipital condyles ; h, tympania bulla, after Hall and Wyman. genera with prismatic molars, is simple enough. The inferior crowns when closely appressed to the supe- rior, and drawn posteriorly in the direction of the long axis of the jaw, press and strain the teeth in the two KINE TOG EN E SIS. directions mentioned. The development of the long prismatic crowns which has proceeded under these circumstances, has been undoubtedly affected by the pressure and strain, and the direction we find has been the result. The seventh effect is in the detailed structure of the teeth themselves. Beginning with short crowns with simple transverse crests (Psittacotherium and Sci- uridae, Figs. i&&-, 109), we reach through inter- mediate forms, crowns with vertical^ lamina, of ^^R^_ J enamel, which some- times divide the crown entirely across (Chinchil- lidae, Caviidae, Castoroi'd- idae) or appear only on the side of the crown, through the continued coalescence of the prisms of which each molar crown is composed ( Arvi- , *j^"?e**^'*£\ LeiHdy> the White River beds of Colorado; orig- Cola). In many instances inal; from the Report U.S. Geol. Surv thf> rrnwnQ inrr^aQp in Terrs-- b> cranium from below; d, man- iiie crowns incrccise in ,., . ., , dible trom above. transverse at the expense of their longitudinal diameter (Castor, Lepus). The vertically laminated structure is evidently due to the crowding together of transverse crests by the same pressure which has given the crowns their oblique di- rection. In many genera the lengthening of the crown has included the lengthening of the longitudinal con- nection between the transverse crests, as in Arvicola, Castor, and Hystricidae generally. In others this con- nection has not been continued, so that the crown is 352 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. composed of prisms which are separate to near the base, as in Amblyrhiza and Geomyidse. In others, con- nection between the prisms has been lost by caenogeny, as in Chinchillidae and Caviidae generally. The latter families display also the greatest amount of crowding. V. DISUSE IN MAMMALIA. Modifications of structure of the mammalian skel- eton accompany the disuse of parts, no less distinctly than in other divisions of animals. That these modi- fications are the direct consequences of this disuse may be reasonably inferred as the antithesis to the thesis of development of structure through use, main- tained in the preceding pages. The evidence is more convincing from the fact that the same structures are observed to be related to similar dynamic conditions in groups of different taxonomic position. I select four illustrations from the Mammalia, from types in which the phylogeny is known, so that there is no question as to the degeneracy of the parts described. a. Natatory Limbs. The limbs have undergone great modifications of form in their gradual adaptation to aquatic habits. The stages of this process are to be observed first in the sea-otter (Enhydra), then in the seals, then in the sirenians, and last in the Cetacea. This succession of groups is not given here as a phylogeny, for paleon- tology does not warrant any such history, but the phy- logeny of the limbs has been similar in the order of succession. The use of a limb as an oar for propulsion in the water requires that it shall be, so far as the blade is concerned, inflexible. Such a structure has existed in KINE TOGENESIS. 353 all thoroughly aquatic Vertebrata. This implies the immobility of the articulations, which is due to the loss of their condylar surfaces. This may be traced to disuse of such articulations. This disuse would be at first voluntary, the limb being held stiffly while used as an oar in the act of swimming. Loss of power of extension and flexion is well known to result from disuse. It is wrell known that the flex- ors and extensors of the manus have become atrophied in the Cetacea. Not so, however, with the flexors and extensors of the humerus, which become those of the entire limb. In the whales the first segment of the fore limb is enclosed within the integument of the body, so that its motion being much restricted, the insertional crests are reduced in size. In the eared seals (Otariidae) the hind limbs are somewhat free from the body integument, so that they can be turned for- ward when on land. They are further enclosed in the true seals (Phocidae) so that their motion is very slight and they cannot be used for progression on land, and are available only for swimming. b. Abortion of Phalanges in Ungulata. In the heavy Ungulata the longitudinal diameter of the phalanges is greatly reduced in relation to their Fig. no. — Balfpna mysticetits fore limb : from Cuvier, Oss. Fos silcs. 354 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. transverse. The successive increase in depression in the bones of the feet with the advance of time is to be a'g. £ a TJ X § »' a t? M -* §• M fe>S,"l ^ (D TJ C O 1-1 ^ -T 2 •« 3 o Htj M Ul 0^0 n o ; - %l 3 ^ ft s •£ O 0) o O » a> s * — o 3 Hb -M o most readily seen in the order Amblypoda, where we pass from Pantolambda to Coryphodon and Uintathe- KINE TO G ENESIS. 355 rium (Fig. 1 1 1 . ) A similar successive reduction is to be seen in the lines of the Perrisodactyla, as we pass from the smaller and lighter to the heavier and more bulky types. Such series are those which commence in the Lophiodontidae, and terminate in the Menodontidae on the one hand, and the rhinoceroses on the other. The elephants display the end of a similar line, which com- mences in the Condylarthra. In all of these bulky mammals the weight in progression is borne on the extremities of the metapodial bones, and the phalanges take but little share in it. They are turned forwards and are nearly useless. Their great reduction in di- mensions in these forms appears to me to have fol- lowed disuse, and this is then the probable cause of it. c. Atrophy of t lie Ulna and Fibula. Successive atrophy of the ulna and fibula has been already referred to (p. 135). This is coextensive with reduction of the number of the digits in the ungulate Mammalia, and with the development of the digital patagium in the bats. This is in broad contrast to the subequal development of the ulna and radius in the Cetacea, where the fore limb functions as the blade of an oar. The cause of the reduction of the two ele- ments in the Ungulata is the restriction of the func- tions of the fore and hind limb to the radius and tibia respectively. The distal extremities of the ulna and fibula are supported by the external bones of the carpal and tarsal series respectively. The reduction of the external digit deprives the external bones in question of their share in the support of the general weight, and consequently relieves them of the impact which passes through the longer median digits which remain. The median digits, on the other hand, support the radius 356 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. and tibia through the medium of the carpus and tar- sus, and it is these elements therefore which function in the use of the limb. We have here an evident illustration of the effect of disuse in effecting the atrophy of an element^ and of use in increasing the size and complexity of an adjacent element, of the same organism. No other explanation seems possible, for the elements which are reduced and those which are enlarged, are subjected in every other respect to the same conditions. d. Atrophy of Incisor Teeth. This is complete in both jaws of existing Edentata; the upper jaw of Dinocerata and many Artiodactyla, and is partial in the upper jaw in various Chiroptera and Lemuridae. We have already seen (p. 326) that the superior incisors of certain Lemuridae are without utility, owing to the conversion of the inferior incisors into a horizontal comb. I have ascribed the reduction of the superior incisors of bats to disuse consequent on the adoption of a frugivorous diet.1 Further reason, which is common to the living members of the orders mentioned, is to be found in the disuse which has fol- lowed the use of the tongue as an organ for the pre- hension of food. The fruit-eating bats with most re- duced incisors (Glossophaginae) carry the soft parts of fruits into the mouth with the tongue. The Edentata use the tongue for the collection of both insect and vegetable food, projecting it far exterior to the mouth. The Artiodactyla without superior incisors however, combine the prehensile use of the tongue with a use of the lower incisors, which bite off the grass thus seized, T-Mechan. Origin, etc., Mammalia, 1889, p. 224. See also Dr. H. Allen, Proceeds. Academy, Philadelphia, 1891, p. 451, / ( ' I J- J f*s ' •-*-* f - KINETOGENESIS. 357 while it is pressed against the pad which replaces the superior incisors. Why the superior incisors should have disappeared in this group is not yet clear to my j mind. In this connection Dr. Allen (/. c.*) reminds us that in hypertrophy of the tongue in man, the inferior in- cisors are thrown forward and are widely separated from each other. He considers it reasonable to infer ) that in lower animals where the tongue is used for pre- hension, the similar change which takes place in the j teeth, from a vertical to a horizontal position, is induced j by this cause. vi. HOMOPLASSY IN MAMMALIA. The direct evidence in favor of kinetogenesis above adduced is greatly strengthened by corroborative tes- timony presented by distinct phyla of animals. Re- stricting myself here to Mammalia, I will enumerate a number of cases where the same structures have ap- peared in distinct lines of descent under similar me- chanical conditions, a phenomenon already referred to on page 72 under the name of Homoplassy. Before reviewing the subject, I cite what is the most remarkable example of homoplassy in the Mam- malia which has yet come to the knowledge of paleon- tologists. Ameghino has discovered in the Cenozoic formations of Argentina a group of Ungulata which he calls the Litopterna, and which I regard as a suborder of the Taxeopoda, allied to the Condylarthra (p. 128). Ameghino placed the group under the Perissodactyla, but the tarsus and carpus are of a totally different char- acter, and indicate an origin from the Condylarthra quite independently of that division. The carpal and tarsal bones are in linear series, or if they overlap, it is in 358 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. KINETOGENES1S. 359 a direction the opposite of that which characterizes the order Diplarthra (=Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla). But the Litopterna present a most remarkable paral- lelism to the Perissodactyla in the characters of both the feet and the dentition. No genus is known as yet which possesses more than three toes before and be- hind, and these are of equal length in Macrauchenia Owen. In this genus the teeth are not primitive but are much modified. The most primitive dentition is seen in the genus Proterotherium (Ameghino) where the superior molars are tritubercular as in many Con- dylarthra. In this genus (Fig. 112, A'), there are three toes, but the lateral ones are reduced, about as in the Equine genus Anchitherium (p. 148). In the next genus, Diadiaphorus Ameghino, the superior molars are quadritubercular and crested, while the lateral toes are reduced still more, being quite rudimental (Fig. 112, B, C), as in the equine genera Hippotherium and Prothippus (p. 149; Fig. 70). The superior molars have not progressed so far as in these genera, but are not very different from those of Anchitherium. In the third and last type (Thoatherium Ameghino), the lat- eral digits have disappeared from both fore and hind feet (Fig. 112, C, Z>), so that the condition is that of the genus Equus (Fig. 81), but the splints in the Thoa- therium crepidatum Ameghino are even more reduced than in the known species of horse. The superior molars have not assumed the pattern of the genus Equus, but resemble rather those of Macrauchenia, and could have been easily derived from those of Dia- diaphorus. Here we have a serial reduction of the lateral digits and their connections with the leg, and increase in the proportions of the middle digit and corresponding in- 360 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. crease in the proximal connections, exactly similar to that which took place in the horse-line, in a different order of Mammalia. In review I now cite as examples of homoplassy: First, as regards the development of the tongue- and-groove ankle-joint. This has been developed in- dependently along four distinct phyla, viz., in the lepo- rid Glires, the Carnivora, and the even and odd toed Diplarthra. Second, the wrist-joint. The faceting of the radial surface has appeared independently in the perissodac- tyle and artiodactyle lines, but is best developed in the latter. Also it appeared independently in the separate suoid and booid lines in the latter suborder. Third, the trochlear crest of the elbow-joint ap- peared independently in the perissodactyle and artio- dactyle Diplarthra, and in the leporid Glires (the rab- bit family). Fourth, the round head of the radius appeared in- dependently in the lines of the Edentata (ant-eater) and Quadrumana, under the stress of supination of the hand. Fifth, the development of cusps with crescentic sec- tion out of cusps with round section has occurred in the widely different groups of the multituberculate Prototheria, and the selenodont Artiodactyla. In the former the crescents are transverse, since the thrust of the teeth in use is longitudinal; in the latter they are longitudinal, since the thrust of the jaws is transverse. Sixth, the deep plication and hypsodonty of molars appeared independently in the Glires, Tillodonta, Pro- boscidia, Sirenia, Perissodactyla, and Artiodactyla ; and probably in the Edentata and Toxodontia. Seventh, increase in the length of the legs has en- KINE TO GENE SIS. 36 1 sued in the Marsupialia, Glires (Lepus, Dolichotis, Dipus), Carnivora, Ungulata, Quadrumana. Eighth, reduction of digits has occurred under sim- ilar conditions in Marsupialia, Glires, Insectivora, Carnivora, Ungulata. Ninth, the atrophy of the ulna and fibula occur in the distinct lines of the Perissodactyla and Artiodac- tyla, and the atrophy of the fibula in the leporid Glires ; all in limbs which function in the most rapid progression. Further confirmation of the law of kinetogenesis is to be found in those cases where different structures appear in different parts of the skeleton of the same individual animal, in direct correspondence with the different mechanical conditions to which these parts have been subjected. Examples : the diverse modifi- cations of the articulations of the limbs in consequence of the uses to which they have been put, in mammals which excavate the earth with one pair of limbs only; as in the anterior limbs of the fossorial Edentata, In- sectivora, and Glires. The reduction of the number of the digits in the posterior limb only when this is extensively used for rapid progression, as in leaping : this is seen in the kangaroo and jerboas, in the orders Marsupialia and Glires. The development of a dental structure of premolars identical with that of the molars, from a different struc- tural origin, in the Perissodactyla. From the preceding facts I have inferred that in biologic evolution, as in ordinary mechanics, identical causes produce identical results. \^^ .^ : 362 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. VILA HYPOTHESIS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE DIVISIONS OF THE VERTEBRATA. In order to estimate the part which has been played by the movements of the Vertebrata in chang- ing their environment in past geologic ages, we have to rely principally on inferences derived from the present physical characteristics of the earth. Formerly, as now, conditions of temperature, humidity, soil, shel- ter, food, etc., were avoided or appropriated by ani- mals, through their capacity for moving from place to place. What concerns us chiefly here, is the effects on their structure produced by the movements of Ver- tebrata. In examining this question I will take it up in systematic order, so as to observe whether kineto- genesis has been the principal or only a subordinate agency in the evolution of this branch of the animal kingdom. The most conspicuous index of the serial succes- sion of the vertebrate classes, is, as has been already remarked, the circulatory system. The modifications of this system have been immediately connected with those of the method of respiration, which the exigen- cies of the environment induced in vertebrates. The existence of branchial arteries and veins dates from the earliest vertebrate, if not from prevertebrate life. They are already established in the Tunicata, and con- tinued throughout the rising scale in diminished num- bers, so long as Vertebrata were exclusively aquatic in their modes of life. When at the close of the De- vonian system the land masses assumed great propor- tions in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, it is probable that many fishes were entangled in shal- KINE TO GENESIS. 363 low water, which rapidly freshened, and ultimately were desiccated, and respiration by the swallowing of air into the alimentary canal began to take the place of respiration by gills. It is well known that respira- tion by this means may be carried on by fishes of va- rious genera, e. g. Cobitis ; and Professor Gage has shown that the same habit exists in Batrachia and in certain tortoises (Tronychidae). In the middle Car- boniferous shales tracks of land animals occur, and the bones of Batrachia abound in the coal measures. Already in the Permian these Batrachia are accompa- nied by numerous Reptilia, and air breathers of ter- restrial habits had become numerous on the earth. The habit of holding in the oesophagus large quan- tities of air while engaged in seeking food in foul water, or on land, on the part of vertebrates which normally oxygenated the blood by means of gills, was probably the mechanical cause of the development of a pouch, and afterwards of a diverticulum of the oesophagus, which became ultimately a swim-bladder or a lung. In vertebrates in which a return to aquatic life became necessary, it became the former; in those which remained for a shorter or longer period of time on land it became the latter.1 It is noteworthy that among fresh-water fishes generally, the swim-bladder is more complex than among marine forms, showing that the varying conditions of shore and fresh-water life have been mainly responsible for its development. The development of a lung at once produced a change in the uses to which the variojus branchial arches were put. The posterior, which supply the lung, would be subjected to greater pressure owing to the increased blood supply demanded by the lung, IThis view is adopted by C. Morris, American Naturalist, 1892, p. 975. 364 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. and a correspondingly diminished pressure would be experienced by the now unused branchial portions of the bows. The first would retain the importance of its basal portion, as the source of the carotids, while the middle arches would continue their existence as the bases of the central dorsal aorta. The loss of the right aorta-root in Mammalia was probably due to the fact that the great arteries which supply the digestive sys- tem are primitively branches of the left aorta-root, as they are to-day in the crocodiles and in many of the Batrachia. The right aorta-root disappeared through disuse. Probably in the immediate ancestors of the birds, as in the crocodiles, the right aorta-root gave off the carotid/s and the subclaviae. As the birds de- mand an excessive blood-supply for the fore limbs, we have here probably the reason why the right root re- mained in this subclass. The next index of successional development in Ver- tebrata is the brain. Our belief that use under stimu- lus has been the cause of its successive growth, can only be based on the analogy of our own experiences in the matter of education. No part of the human organism is so susceptible to stimuli as the nervous system, and the marvellous effects on faculty of con- tinued exercise are well known to everybody. Since the changes of mental states are necessarily due to corresponding structural changes no one will find in ignorance of the mechanics of brain-evolution a serious obstacle to believing that it has taken place under the influence of the innumerable stimuli always present to animal life. It is in the skeleton that we have the actual record and evidence of the effect of movement on structure. It must be remembered in this connection that skeletal KINE TO GENESIS. 365 and dental tissues exhibit the phenomena of nutrition and waste (metabolism), common to all living organic matter. Hence even the hardest osseous tissues are plastic and are subject to mechanical influences to a degree which is not possible to dead matter of equal density. Fundamental differences between Vertebrata are displayed by their organs of movement, but before specially considering these I will refer briefly to cer- tain other fundamental characters displayed by the skull. In advancing from the fishes to the Mammalia we observe a successive consolidation of the mandibu- lar arch, and of its mode of connection with the cra- nium. The mandibular arch in its entirety displays in the fishes a segmented condition, generally compar- able to that which characterizes the branchial arches. Among Batrachians and Reptilia various degrees of fixation of its suspensor (hyomandibular, quadrate) to the cranium exist, and in some of them it is closely united by immovable suture. The complete fusion with the squamosal seen in the Mammalia is its final status. The segmentation of the mandibular portion of the arch seems, from the discoveries of Ameghino, to have continued among some of the Lower Eocene mammals, but that finally disappeared, so that in the modern mammals the movable mandibular arch con- sists of a single element on each side. In this history we see an instance of the progressive coossification of parts, which results from the constant strain of use, of r ' — — — ~__^ which many other normal and abnormal examples are known. This use is the act of mastication. Where there is no mastication, and the jaws are used only as prehensile organs, this coossification does not occur, as, for instance, in the snakes. In this most special- / V^ 366 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. ized and modern type of Reptilia, the segmentation is complete. The segmentation of the limbs in the Vertebrata is a simple mechanical problem. Paleontology and em- bryology concur in proving that the limbs originated in primitive folds in the external integument, and that their connection with the internal skeleton was of later accomplishment, has been shown by Wiedersheim. At first free, they sought points of support on the skeleton, but did not lose their free mobility when this contact was attained. Appropriately to the me- chanical conditions of rigidity and flexibility neces- sary to their use in a fluid medium, they were orig- inally composed of slender rods which were segmented by interruptions at suitable points. The articulations of the fin-rays of fishes have been made the subject of an interesting research by Ryder, who finds them to be fractures, due to flexures during motion in the water medium.1 The limb of land vertebrates (the chiropterygium) was derived from one of the forms of fins (rhipidopterygium) of water vertebrates. This is the simple type of primitive fin displayed by the Pale- ozoic Teleostomi of the superorder Rhipidopterygia. Whether the subdivisions of the chiropterygium, the propodial, metapodial, and phalangeal bones, etc., were diMide^from the primitive branches of the archi- pterygium, as held by Gegenbaur, or whether they have developed by sprouting from a simple axial series of segments, as held by Baur, or whether, as I have suggested, it is a derivation from the rhipidopterygian type of paired fin, is not yet decided. In either case, the limbs of the first land animals were segmented and flexible at the joints between the segments. The ne- l Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1889, p. 547, KINE TO GENESIS. 367 cessities of such limbs are twofold : first, to serve as supports when at rest or in progression ; second, to be applied to the body in protection from enemies, or in aiding the functions of feeding, reproduction, etc. The first function requires principally mobility at the point of connection with the body. The second, flexi- bility at some point on the shaft of the limb. The two kinds of movements in question would conserve two principal points of flexure, and these would be for the fore limb, just what we find, the shoulder and elbow joints ; and for the hind limbs, the hip and knee joints. The t\vo median joints are directed in opposite ways, the elbow backwards and the knee forwards. This diversity is clearly due to the diverse positions of the functioning regions. The opposite extremities of the alimentary canal, the posterior including the exits of the urogenital organs, requires that the fore limbs should bend forwards, and the posterior limbs back- wards. And the constantly recurring necessity for the exercise of these flexures must necessarily have devel- oped the appropriate articulations in preference to all others. The terminal flexure, that of the wrist or ankle, has been evidently due to a similar mechanical cause, viz., the flexure due to pressure of the weight of the body on the terminal segments when in contact with earth. The distal segments are the most slender in all types, and least able to maintain a linear direc- tion under pressure, hence, the)7 have flexed easily and thus the line of separation between leg and foot had its origin. The ankle and wrist in the Batrachia Uro- dela is still a mere flexure. Mr. Herbert Spencer has endeavored to account for the origin of the segmentation of muscles into myo- tomes, and the division of the sheath of the notochord 368 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. into vertebrae, by supposing it to be due to the lateral : swimming movements of the fishes, which first exhibit these structures.1 With this view various later authors have agreed, and I have offered some additional evi- dence of the soundness of this position with respect to the vertebral axis of Batrachia,2 and the origin of limb articulations.3 It is true that the origin of segmenta- tion in the vertebral column of the true fishes and the Batrachia turns out to have been less simple in its pro- cess than was suggested by Mr. Spencer, but his gen- eral principle holds good, now that paleontology has cleared up the subject. The Echinodermata, Mollusca, Arthropoda, and Vertebrata possess external or internal calcareous or chitinous skeletons for the most part. The lower forms of all these branches, however, are more or less deficient in this kind of protection, and embryology indicates that all of them are the descendants of the Vermes or worms, which are mostly without such hard supports and protections. Whether this be demonstrated or not, we have plenty of evidence to show that the prim- itive Vertebrata were without hard skeletons, and that their bodies were composed internally and externally of perfectly flexible tissues. If we now imagine that either the integuments, or an axial rod, of a worm-like animal has become the seat of a calcareous or chitinous deposit, it is evident that the movements of the animal in swimming or creeping must have interrupted the deposit at definite points of its length. The lateral flexure of the body would be restricted to certain points, and the intervening spaces 1 Principles of Biology, 1873, pp. 198-204. 2 Origin of t lie Fittest, 1887, p. 305. 3 Slechanical Causes of Origin of Hard Parts of Mammalia, 1889, p. 163. KINE TO GENESIS. 369 would become the seat of the deposit. At the lines of interruption joints would be formed, and if the move- ments were habitually symmetrical, these interruptions would be equidistant. In this way the well-known segmentation of the external skeletons of Arthropoda, and the internal skeletons of Vertebrata would be formed. We have more detailed evidence that this has been the case. Thus the segmentation of the os- seous sheath of the chorda dorsalis in both primitive fishes and batrachians has been accomplished in wedge- shaped tracts precisely as may be observed in the fold- ing of a tolerably stiff sleeve of a coat which ensheathes the arm, under the influence of lateral flexures. The wedge-shaped tracts are superior and inferior, the apices directed towards each other. Seen from the side they form two wedges with their apices together, and their bases one up and the other down. Now, if a person who wears a coat of rather thick material will examine the folds of his sleeve as they are produced on the inner side of his arm, he will see a figure nearly like that of the segments of the vertebral column de- scribed. The folds will correspond to the sutures, and the interspaces to the bony segments. He will find that the spaces are lens-shaped, or, when viewed in profile, wedge-shaped, with the apices together. This arrangement results from the necessary mechanics of flexure to one side. In flexure of a cylinder like the sleeve, or like a vertebral column, the shortest curve is along the line of the greatest convexity of the cylin- der. Here is the closest folding of the sheath, and here, consequently, the lines of fold in soft material, or interruption in hard material, will converge and come together. That is just what they do in both the 370 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. sleeve and the only difference rhachitomous vertebral column, the being that in the animal it is exhib- ited on both sides, and on the sleeve on only one side. This difference is, of course, due to the fact that the animal can bend himself in both di- rections, while the arm only bends in one direction. It results from the above obser- vations that the structure of the rhachitomous ver- tebral column has been produced by the movements of the body from side to side, as in swim- ming, during the process of the de- posit of mineral ma- terials and around the chorda dorsa- lis.1 See figures 113 to ii4<2 where the coat-sleeve is com- pared with the "rhachitomous" vertebrae of primitive 1 See American Naturalist, January, 1884. 372 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. fishes (Merospondyli1) and Batrachia (Rhachitomi). Such was the origin of the segmentation in the primi- tive sharks, Pleuracanthus, whose structure has been pointed out by Sauvage, and Hybodus, whose charac- ters have been demonstrated by Smith Woodward. The segmented (or rhachitomous, as I have termed it,) condition may be then regarded as the primitive one of the osseous column in the Vertebrata. From the rha- chitomous column two divergent lines have arisen as already remarked (pp. 89,209). The inferior segment has been retained in the fish-batrachian line, whence I have termed their vertebrae ' ' intercentral, " while these bodies have disappeared or become rudimental in the higher Vertebrata. The pleurocentra (Figs. 113-1 140, <:, pi. ) have, on the other hand, developed downwards, and, meeting below, have formed the effective centrum of the vertebra. Hence, in the Monocondylia and Mammalia the vertebrae are "central." The Reptilia display a greater variety of vertebral articulation than any of the classes of Vertebrata. After the primitive biconcave (amphiccelous) type was abandoned, the two principal types assumed are the ball and socket (proccelous and opisthocoelous), and the plane (amphiplatyan). In those families in which the body is more or less in contact with the ground, owing to the absence, shortness, or position of the limbs (Lacertilia, Ophidia), the vertebral bodies ex- hibit the ball-and-socket articulation, while in types with longer limbs which supported the body in pro- gression, so that the latter never reached the ground (Dinosauria), the articulations are plane. The ball-and- socket articulation may be inferred to have been pro- IZittel, Handbuch tier Palteontologie, III., p. 138, 1887, where this charac- ter is first clearly pointed out in fishes. KINETOGENESIS. 373 duced by vermiform movements which utilize points of resistance on the earth as aids to progression, while the plane articulation has probably resulted from the per- sistence of the fixed relation which is appropriate to a body which should be relieved by the legs of all share in movements necessary to progression. That this position is correct is sustained by the fact that the cer- vical vertebrae of various reptiles and mammals which have plane dorsal vertebrae have the ball-and-socket structure. This is probably due to the constant flex- ures to which that part of the column has been sub- jected, as compared with the fixity of the dorsal re- gion. Owing to the comparatively advanced state of our knowledge of the phylogeny of the Mammalia (Chap- ter II.), this class furnishes especial opportunities for the study of kinetogenetic evolution. But our knowl- edge is not yet sufficiently complete to enable us to account on mechanical grounds for the origin of all the characters which distinguish all its subdivisions. This being the case, I have not presented the subject in taxonomic order, but have contented myself with offering it in the order of evidential value. I have first described certain cases where the action of kinetogen- esis is self-evident. This has been followed by the presentation of cases where the evidence amounts to a high degree of probability. Referring now to the table of definitions of the or- ders of Mammalia on pages 127-128, I will go over the characters seriatim, and show how far our knowledge warrants us in giving a kinetogenetic explanation of their origin. No mechanical cause can be at present assigned for the loss of the coracoid and episternal bones in the Eutheria. In the Eutheria the presence 374 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. of the marsupial bones of the Didelphia is a survival, and it may be that their absence in the Monodelphia is due to disuse, on the withdrawal of strain on the abdominal walls which followed the abandonment of the oviparous habit of the Prototheria, and the young- bearing habit of the Marsupialia. The very consider- able weight actually borne by existing forms and prob- able weight carried by extinct forms will probably account for the development of these bones through strain on the prepubic cartilage. The perforate palate is a reptilian survival, and the closure of the fonta- nelles may have been due to the increased strain due to the increased energy of mastication which early en- sued, owing to the increased size and specialization of the molar teeth. Of the three divisions of the Mono- delphia, the Mutilata, Unguiculata, and Ungulata, the Unguiculata possess modifications of a character of ungual phalanges inherited from the Reptilia, while the other two groups have experienced still greater modification. The limbs of the Mutilata display the result of disuse as to the posterior ones, and special use as to the anterior, as I have already pointed out. The Sirenia display a less degree of modification than the Cetacea. The hoofs of the Ungulata may well have assumed their laterally expanded and transverse forms by the extreme pressure and impact on the earth, incident to their function as supports. The origins of most of the dental characters which characterize the orders of Mammalia have already been referred to mechanical causes, and have been already treated of. The same is true of tarsal and carpal characters, which are of so much importance among the Ungulata. The characters enumerated on page 139 as indicat- KINETOGENESIS. 375 ing progressive modification in time have also been mainly accounted for on mechanical grounds. 5. OBJECTIONS TO THE DOCTRINE OF KINETOGENESIS It has been objected that Neo-Lamarckians are self-contradictory and illogical in their defense of the doctrine of the development of structures by use, or by motion. It is asserted that they believe that stimuli of different kinds produce similar results, and that stimuli of the same kind may produce different re- sults. The charge that Neo-Lamarckians hold those views is correct, but it is not correct to suppose that they are illogical or self-contradictory. This criticism is one of those generalities which will not bear exam- ination, while the doctrine of kinetogenesis will bear examination. Thus it has been experimentally shown that bone irritation will produce both bone deposit and bone ab- sorption, according to the degree of irritation. Mode- rate irritation produces deposit, and greater irritation produces absorption. Hence it is that both impact ' and strain, or pressure and stretching, will elongate a bone, by stimulating growth, if not excessive. We \ have the illustrations in the elongation of ligaments and cartilages and their ossification under stretching, and the shortening of both in absence of use, from which we may infer their lengthening under use. The .' continued lengthening of the limbs and teeth of the higher Mammalia, in the course of geologic time, is an illustration of the effect of continued impact and transverse strain ; while the lengthening of the limb bones of the sloth, and of the tarsal bones of many bats, is a consequence of longitudinal strain. 376 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. The differing directions of the elements entering into the articulations of the limbs of Mammalia may be cited in illustration of the supposed inconsistency of supposing them all to be the result of impact and strain. Thus most of the condyles are directed distad, but the heads of the humerus and femur, and the prox- imal surfaces of the carpus and tarsus are directed proximad (except the trochlear groove of the astraga- lus when present). So far as regards the distal ends of the radius and tibia (fore arm and leg) I have pointed out that here dense layers disposed longitudi- nally impinge on a similar layer disposed transversely, with the natural consequence the latter has yielded to the excess of impact so produced. The direct relation of the sculpture of the surfaces concerned, to the lengthening of the foot and increase of speed of the animal, and hence increase of force of impact, leads irresistibly to this conclusion. As regards the con- vexity of the heads of the humerus and femur, or rather the concavity of the corresponding surfaces of the scapula and acetabulum the explanation has been al- ready given. Henke was apparently the first to call attention to the fact that the concavity and convexity of the articular surfaces is directly related to the posi- tions of the insertions of the muscles which move them. He shows that a concave surface is developed at the extremity which is nearest to the muscular insertion, while the convex surface is developed on the extremity which is most remote from its muscular insertion. Thus is accounted for the apparently contradictory evidence of the limb articulations mentioned. In some cases at least, as those of the glenoid cavities of the scapula, ilium, and phalanges, the muscular insertions are so near to their borders, as to suggest that the KINE TO GENESIS. 377 growth of the latter is due to a pulling strain on them, as well as to the greater mobility of the element which becomes convex, as supposed by Pick. It is claimed in the preceding pages, that impacts on the extremities of a bone or tooth, gradually in- crease its length. It may be hastily supposed that in this assumption I derive elongation of the shaft of a bone from the same stimulus which produces excava- tion and therefore abbreviation of its extremities. In the gross this charge is correct ; but the position I have assumed is defensible, because in detail it is easy to perceive that effect of the use of a limb on an ar- ticular surface of a bone is quite distinct from that which it has on the shaft. At the articular faces we have discontinuity; and therefore friction ; in the shaft we have only the concussions produced by impact, to- gether with some torsion strain. That the former movement stimulates the development and activity of the osteoclasts has been shown by Koelliker ; that the latter may stimulate the activity of osteoblasts is ren- dered highly probable from the facts of pathological anatomy. These show that a very slight modification of stimulus is sufficient to change the building cells into the absorbent cells and back again. For the same reason belief in the elongation of bones under stretch- ing strain may not be inconsistent with belief in an elongation under impacts. Gary makes specific objections against the kineto- genesis of the articulations of the mammalian skele- ton.1 After a study of the carpus of the Eocene peris- sodactyle genus Palaeosyops he concludes that the trapezoid bone is too small to express properly the di- rect result of purely mechanical causes. He says that 1 American Journal of Morphology, 1892, p. 305. 378 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION in reaching this result he has applied geometrical meth- ods. "First, the volume of the bones was got at. Next the area of the bearing surfaces and their inclina- tion to the digits were measured. Then giving to the thrust of each metacarpal a value proportional to its volume, the distribution of that thrust can by resolu- tion and composition of forces, be traced through the foot, and the pressure on each surface and bone ap- proximately obtained." Further than this the author does not explain how he reached the result that the trapezoid is too small. It is quite essential that this demonstration should be given if we are expected to accept his conclusion. An essential part of the prob- lem is, however, unnoticed by Mr. Gary ; and that is the condition of the trapezoid in the reptilian ances- tors of the Mammalia. The phylogeny of an element must be known, since it furnishes the " physical basis " i of the problem. The fact is that the trapezium, trape- zoides, and the magnum owe their small size to their t being the only carpal elements which have not been produced by the fusion of two or more primitive ele- ments of the batrachian and reptilian carpus. The trapezoides moreover occupies a place in a longitudinal series of three elements in the primitive carpus, while the trapezium forms one of a series of only two ele- ments. For similar reasons the cuneiforms are the smallest elements of the tarsus. Mr. Gary then proceeds to criticize the explana- tions offered by Professor Osborn and myself, in ac- counting for the origin of certain structures. He finds our explanations to be self-contradictory, and that we also contradict each other. Osborn has supposed that the conules of the molars are produced by friction of the molars of opposite series on each other. I have KINETOGENESIS. 379 expressed the opinion that the shear of the sectorial teeth of Carnivora was produced by lateral friction during vertical movement of the lower tooth on the upper. I have also asserted that the forms of facets of limb articulations are due to pressure. Mr. Gary sees here the attempt to explain the origin of totally different structures through identical mechanical pro- cesses, and believes that the attempt is a failure. Were the conditions of the problems alike, as Mr. Gary thinks them to be, he would have good reason for his opinion. But the conditions in the three cases are entirely different, and our author's conclusion is due to neglect of the elementary facts of the proposi- tion. The development of conules at the points indicated by Professor Osborn, has been supposed by him to be due to friction between existing ridges of enamel which cross each other when in action, at the points in question. In the case of the development of the sectorial shear, the faces between which the shearing motion takes place are smooth, and without ridges or crests. Hence the entire surface receives a homo- geneous friction. In the third case, that of the foot articulations, there is no friction, but there is pressure which when abruptly applied in movement becomes impact. There is really no parity between the three cases. The author of this paper also thinks that the ex- planation of the elongation of bones through use of different kinds is not a permissible hypothesis. He cites my attempt to account for the elongation of the leg bones of higher mammals through impact- stimulus ; and of other limb bones of other mammals through stretching. But he does not prove that similar results 380 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. may not flow from mechanical stresses applied in dif- ferent ways. I suppose that any mechanical stress which determines nutritive processes to a part, will in- crease its size, c&teris paribus ; and the stretch as well as the impact has this effect. I have in fact shown, in the observations already cited (pp. 277-279), on the production of artificial elbow joints, that osseous de- posit is stimulated by pulling strain as well as by push- ing or impact. In concluding, Mr. Gary admits one of the two con- tentions of the Neo-Lamarckians in his two closing propositions. He says " Plasticity of bone, using the word plasticity not in a physical sense merely, but to include absorption under pressure, will probably ac- count for much structure in the foot and elsewhere, especially the connection with the joints, and in the fields of variation and correlation.'3 In the second proposition he says that facts have been adduced by him which are inconsistent with the theory that the size of bones has been increased by the stimulus they receive, and with the theory that regions of growth are determined by regions of pressure and strain. "The testimony of the literature as to the latter point," he says, "is conflicting. " I have shown that the supposed conflict is due to a misunderstanding on the part of the author of this paper. The proposition that pres- sure does not affect growth is in contradiction to the admission made by the author in his first proposition, where he admits that pressure determines structure ; for in such change of structure there is always growth. Finally Mr. Gary remarks "That race changes follow those produced in the individual life, or that they are directly caused by their mechanical surroundings, I do not think it has been satisfactorily shown." The KINE TO GENESIS. 38 1 fact that the characters of bone structure admitted by Mr. Gary to have had a mechanical origin appear in the young before birth, is evidence that race characters are produced, in other words, that they are inherited. Another objection proposed by Tomes, and quoted by Poulton and Wallace with approval, has reference to the kinetogenesis of teeth of Mammalia as described by Ryder and myself. Tomes asserts that it is quite im- possible that the crowns of the teeth could have been altered by mechanical impacts and strains, since their form is determined in the recesses of the dental grooves, entirely removed from all the mechanical influences which affect the external surfaces of the jaws. But the observations of Koelliker and others show that osteoclasts are as active in dental as in ordinary osse- ous tissue. It is altogether probable that the modifi- cations of dental structure have been produced by strain and friction under use in the adult, precisely as ; in the skeleton, and that the share that the unerupted crowns have in the process is that of inheritance only, as in the case of the skeleton. That teeth deposit den- tine as process of repair in adult mammals is well known, and this repair is in direct relation to use. That the effects of dental wear are inherited is proven by the fact cited by Tomes and Wallace. Another objection to the doctrine of kinetogenesis which has been made by some of the Neo-Darwinians is, that if growth under stimulus be true, how can it have limits, so long as the stimulus of use exists. In other words, what is to prevent, in the case of the vertebrate skeleton, of an indefinite increase in the length of the legs, of the teeth, and of their cusps, etc. The answer to this objection will vary more or less with the part of the structure considered. In general, 382 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. however, it may be assumed that stimulus is stress due to a want of harmony between an organism and its environment, and that kinetogenesis is the result of the effort of the organism to adjust itself. So soon as equilibrium is attained, the stress of stimulus ceases or is much reduced, and evolution in this direction ceases. Such equilibrium is attained when the mechan- ism of an animal is sufficient for the satisfaction of its needs. When this is the case severe exertion is no longer necessary, and a period of easy use follows .which is sufficient to maintain the mechanism in work- ing condition. In the case where circumstances should become so favorable for the easy satisfaction of the necessities of life, as to call for little or no exertion, degeneracy of the organism is sure to follow. The well-known phenomena of degeneracy from disuse show that a large part, and in some cases all, of the stimulus of use, is only sufficient for the maintenance of the organism in working condition, and that there is no surplus to be expended in progressive evolution. It is however true that some organs are stimulated to excessive growth by active use. Such are some of the teeth, which, if not worn at the crown by the op- position of those of the opposite jaw, soon grow to an inconvenient length. This occurs in the hypsodont molars of horses and artiodactyles, and in the pris- matic molars and incisors of Glires. Hypsodonty in general is an illustration of continuous growth induced by long-continued stimulus in those orders of Mam- malia, and in the Toxodontia and Proboscidia. The excessive growth of the canines in the South American saber-tooth tiger, and of the incisors of the mammoth, are cases where the energy of growth has not subsided in time to prevent excess. KINE TO GENESIS. 383 Several years ago Prof. August Miiller and I called attention nearly simultaneously to the probability that many of the forms of the reproductive organs of plants, especially the flowers, are due to the strains and other effects produced by their use by insects. Rev. George Henslow has written a book in which this subject is set forth in detail,1 It is impossible to demonstrate this point with the same certainty as the kinetogenetic origin of the articulations of the vertebrate skeleton and their characters, owing to the absence of paleon- tologic evidence. Henslow, however, says: "When we find innumerable coincidences all tending in one direction, coupled with an indefinite capacity for vary- ing in response to forces in all parts of plants, I still maintain that [this] theory does not utterly break down," as asserted by Mr. Wallace.2 Wallace argues that since many regular flowers have been subject to the irritation of insects and have not become irregu- lar, there is no reason to suppose that this is the cause of the irregularity in question. To this Henslow re- plies:3 [Mr. Wallace] "will see that existing regular flowers being mostly terminal, have no lower petals at all, but are so situated as to offer access to insects from all points of the compass. Moreover, when a plant with normally irregular flowers (which are always situated close to the axis, so that insects can only en- ter them in one way) produces a blossom in a terminal position (as foxglove, larkspur, horse-chestnut, etc., often do), it at once becomes quite regular." This change may be brought about artificially, for, says ] T/ie Origin of tJie Floral Structures by Insect and Other Agencies. Inter- national Science Series, Vol. LXIV. ^Natural Science, 1894, p. 178. ^Natural Science, 1894, p. 262. 384 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. Henslow, " flowers normally irregular in nature often revert to their ancestral regular forms under cultiva- tion in the absence of insects, and then come true from seed, as the Gloxinias." CHAPTER VII.-NATURAL SELECTION. ATATURAL SELECTION is the process of dis- 1 Al crimination of variations, by which those which are most in harmony with the environment survive. It is, in short, as expressed by Spencer, "the survival of the fittest." Fitness is of various kinds, and is only determined by the nature of the environment. The success of a variety which appears in aquatic sur- roundings will depend on characters different from those which bring success in a forest. Variations which favor survival and increase among carnivorous animals differ from those useful to the life of herbivo- rous forms. So survival in human society depends on characters different from those which secure the same result among the lower animals, etc. It is thus evi- dent that natural selection is of many kinds and that forms survive for various reasons ; and it is hence of universal application. The reasons for survival may be divided into those which depend for survival on the relations of a type to the non-living environment, and those which depend on the living. The former may be divided into those which are passive and those which are active. The particular influences may be imper- fectly enumerated as follows : 386 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. Non-living environment. a. Passive. Isolation of areas ; continuity of areas ; building material ; food ; place of concealment ; temperature ; humidity. aa. Active. Pressure of earth, water, and air. II. Living environment. Food ; reproductive potency ; sexual selection ; digestive and other physiological power ; muscular strength ; su- perior weapons and other special mechanisms ; intelli- gence. I have already (page 4) quoted the language of Darwin, where he states that the supposition that nat- ural selection is a cause of the origin of variations is a mistake. From the nature of selection, Darwin's po- sition thus expressed, is self-evidently sound. The attempt has, however, been made to apply the term selection to the efficient cause of all variation, and to divide its exhibitions into two kinds, natural and arti- ficial selection. If the primary assumption involved in this position is illogical, the dual division proposed is absurd. As may be readily seen in the table in the preceding paragraph, in which the factors of natural selection are enumerated, the conditions necessary to selection are mostly identical, whether imposed by na- ture or by the hand of man ; i. e., whether natural or artificial. The physiological effects of food, tempera- ture, exercise, etc., do not differ, whether due to nat- ural conditions, or to the influence of man. The ob- servation of man's influence is indeed especially in- structive in increasing our knowledge of the effects of natural causes, since in the former case we have the process in action within our control, while in the latter case it is not. The subject of natural selection has been ably NATURAL SELECTION. 387 treated by Darwin, Wallace, and other writers, and it is one on which much further research may be profita- bly expended. It is the science of adaptations, and the name Chorology has been framed for it by Haeckel, but the earlier term (Ecology is now generally used. It was not overlooked by biologists prior to Darwin and Wallace, and is stated in general terms by Lamarck in his Philosophic Zoologique, but it was reserved for the two authors just mentioned to create the science. I shall here only refer to a few aspects of the subject. Isolation naturally tends to emphasize any pecu- liarities of structure which may harmonize with the conditions of the environment, by the barrier which it sets up against the entrance and mixture of forms from other localities where the environments are more or less different, and where the characters are correspond- ingly proportionately diverse. Isolation conversely prevents the emigration of forms, and the consequent mixture with the differing forms of other regions. Breeding in and in is produced on a large scale. Geo- graphical isolation is a result of the formation and population of islands, whether this be accomplished by submergence below or by elevation above sea level. A noteworthy illustration of the former case is seen in the West Indian Islands, which represent the elevated regions of a former continent. Here the faunae of the respective islands have been separated from each other since late Pliocene time. We find that while most of the genera of land Vertebrata are generally distributed, each island possesses peculiar species. This is even true of the birds, whose powers of migration are quite sufficient to enable them to pass from island to island. The restriction of land mollusca is still greater, several islands having genera peculiar to them, 388 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. Isolation is also produced by inequalities of land- surface, resulting from the elevation of mountain ranges, plateaus, etc. This is well seen in Mexico and Central America where the number of species of Vertebrata is large, owing to the fact that many of them are restricted to very narrow areas bounded by impassable barriers. The restriction of species of land Mollusca to each of the numerous valleys of the Ha- waiian Islands has been made the subject of an espe- cial study by Dr. Gulick, who treats of them with especial reference to the evolution of their forms. The assimilation of inorganic matter necessarily preceded that of organic matter, so that this function characterized the first organic beings, whether animal or plant-like in other respects. Among animals we may regard the vegetable feeders as having by a little preceded the carnivorous forms. Omnivorous forms must have come into existence soon after, and from these, both classes of feeders have been from time to time recruited ever since. The primitive Vertebrata were probably carnivorous, and most of the fishes and Batrachia have always been such. Herbivorous forms have arisen from time to time among Reptilia, and of granivorous birds there are many. The early Mamma- lia were divided between omnivorous (Multitubercu- lata) and insectivorous types (Protodonta, Pantothe- ria) ; while the higher Mammalia of all kinds were de- rived from more or less omnivorous forms (primitive Condylarthra and some Creodonta). We may account primitive insects to have been largely herbivorous, even more than they are at the present time, while Carnivora predominate in marine invertebrate life. It is not diffi- cult to understand that circumstances of the environ- ment would determine the food of animals, and would NATURAL SELECTION. 389 divert omnivorous forms into carnivorous or herbivo- rous habits as abundance of food and competition of rivals might dictate. Sexual selection is of two general classes, that in which the male selects, and that in which the female determines the result. In the former case the most vigorous males, or those in which the mechanisms for seizing the females are most effective, propagate their kind most successfully. It is well known that in many animals, especially the Arthropoda, the males are fur- nished with especial organs of prehension. In verte- brates similar organs are especially conspicuous in some of the Batrachia Salientia. (See p. 65.) The species of Arcifera exhibit peculiar structures during the breeding season ; either an extension of the natatory membrane, or the development of corneous plates or spurs, as aids to prehension. There is much variety and efficiency displayed in this point (except in Bufonidae), in especial contrast to the apparent ab- sence of all but the weakest modifications among the Ranidae. This is in compensation for the structure of the sternum, whose lateral halves, being movable on each other, offer a slighter basis of resistance for the flexor and extensor muscles of the fore limbs of the male. In the Firmisternia the halves of the shoulder girdle do not overlap below on the middle line, but abut against each other, thus preventing compression (Fig. 51, page 198). While no appendages of the season have been ob- served in some Cystignathidae, in several genera two acute spurs appear on the superior aspect of the thumb and more rarely spur-like tubercles on the breast ; the body is sometimes shielded with hardened points on the rugosities, or the lip surrounded by an arched 390 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. series of corneous rugae. In the Leptodactylus penta- dactylus Laur. a huge acute process of the metacarpal of the thumb, projects inwards. Its apex is covered by a horny cap, and it is a formidable grappling-hook to aid the male in retaining his hold. There is added to this in the same species a horny plate on each side of the thorax of the male, from which project three acute points. With these fixed in her back and the thumb spikes in her breast the females cannot escape. Struc- tures like this do not appear in the Firmisternia. Here the inferior elements of the scapular arch abut against each other, so that the thoracic cavity does not contract on pressure, and the possibility of the male retaining a firm grip on the female is thereby greatly increased. In the Cystignathns pachypus the males exhibit a permanent enlargement of the bra- chium, dependent on largely developed anterior and posterior alae of the humerus. (Vide Giinther, Ann. Mag. N. H., 1859.) Another kind of male selection is accomplished by the combats of males for the possession of the females. This is usual in polygamous birds and Mammalia, and in some promiscuous species of both. Of the birds the Gallinae form the best known example ; and of the mammals, most Ungulata, and the eared seals (Otari- idae), are illustrations. In this way the weak males are eliminated either by death, or by exclusion from the opportunity of reproduction. The males in such species are armed with spurs, horns, or large teeth, except in some of the Perissodactyla, which have neither. Female selection is seen in another direction. Here the male attracts by the superior brilliancy of his colors or peculiarity of physical appearance, as well as by NATURAL SELECTION. 391 his Botieas; The available growth-energy of the male being superior to that of the female in most animals, his structure is more liable to excess of development in useless directions. In many of the Arthropoda, especially the Insecta, the males possess processes of the head and thorax besides the especially useful pre- hensile peculiarities of the limbs. Among Vertebrata the male generally possesses the more brilliant colors. This is especially noteworthy in fishes and birds. It is also frequently the case in lizards, although in one genus (Liocephalus) the female has the brighter hues. The selection (taking no account of the origin of these characters) acts in the probable preference by the females for the most brilliant colors and most impres- sive forms, thus propagating both, and in the neglect of those males in which these characters are not so well developed. The plainness of the females aids in their concealment and enables them to perform their ma- ternal functions in safety. The desire of the males to attract the favor of the females leads to many peculiar performances among birds. The males display their plumage by spreading their wings, tail, tail-coverts, etc., and strut and go through many antics in the presence of the females. Familiar examples are seen in our barnyards in the turkeys, peafowls, and pigeons. In the paradise-bird the most remarkable exhibitions occur, according to Wallace. In song-birds the male is frequently the only or the best songster, and the development of the vocal powers resulting from the sexual impulse is most re- markable. Among Mammalia the female selection is less common than male selection. In the case of some of the old world monkeys (Macacus, e. g.) the female presents the greater physical indication of ex- 392 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. citement in the extraordinary development of the nates at the season of heat. Mankind, appropriately to the high development of the mental powers, is selected with reference to qualities of mind as well as with re- gard to the physical attractions. Mental advantages being equal, beauty is preferred, but beauty is often neglected in favor of superior moral and intellectual characteristics. Both sexes take part in the selection ; in the lower races chiefly the male, while in the higher races the choice rests ultimately with the female. It is probable that in future civilized mankind will exer- cise more care than now in the prevention of marriage of persons affected with serious physical and mental defects, such as chronic diseases, insanity, alcoholism, criminality, etc. ; but beyond this, supervisory selec- tion cannot go. The supposition which is sometimes entertained by some persons, that mankind will in a state of higher civilization prefer physical to mental perfection, is certainly ill founded. And among men- tal qualities, a high value will always be attached to those which render social life easiest and most pleasant ; the standards of ease and pleasure being innumerable. Among the most conspicuous examples of the ac- tion of natural selection are to be found those resem- blances in color or form between animals and their environment which serve to conceal them from ene- mies. Animals possessing such protective appear- ances naturally escape the observation of enemies which prey on them, while those which do not possess them are more readily captured and eaten. Much is to be found of interest on this attractive subject in the writings of Wallace, Poulton, Beddard, and others. The two authors first named ascribe these color and form characters to natural selection as a cause. This is, NATURAL SELECTION. 393 however, impossible ; yet natural selection has un- doubtedly been the cause of their survival. Professor Poulton has demonstrated (p. 230) that the protective colors in lepidopterous pupae are produced directly by the influences of light on the nerves of the ani- mal and its reflex action on the pigment depository process. The first objection to the belief that natural selec- tion is the primary cause of organic evolution has been already stated as follows : ' 'A selection cannot be the cause of those alternatives from which it se- lects. The alternatives must be presented before the selection can commence." But the supporters of the view that natural selection is the origin of variation allege that it produces this result by the continued survival of minute differences which are useful, thus accumulating variation. That minute advantageous differences will secure survival no one can doubt, but it must be remembered that the variations which con- stitute evolution have been in a vast number of cases too minute to be useful. But the general question is not affected by the supposition that advantageous va- riations may be sometimes minute. Minute or great, they have to be assumed in the argument for selec- tion ; and whether minute or great, they have a def- inite cause. * * * In conclusion of Part II. of this book, I trust that I have adduced evidence to show that the stimuli of chemical and physical forces, and also molar motion or use or its absence, are abundantly sufficient to pro- duce variations of all kinds in organic beings. The va- riations may be in color, proportions, or details of struc- ture, according to the conditions which are present. PART III. THE INHERITANCE OF VARIATION. PRELIMINARY. IN THE first section of this book I have endeavored to show that variation of character is not promis- cuous or multifarious, but that it is limited to certain definite directions. That this rule applies to all kinds of characters, whether they are of the less fundamen- tal kind which distinguish species, or of the more fun- damental kind which distinguish the higher divisions. In the second section I have endeavored to show that many characters, both those of the more super- ficial and those of the profounder kinds, are the direct result of chemical and physical stimuli, and of molar motion or use, or of the absence of the latter or dis- use. It now remains to ascertain whether the characters or variations so produced are inherited ; that is, whether characters so acquired are transmitted to succeeding generations. Unless this proposition is demonstrated, our knowledge of the method of evolution remains in- complete, and we must look for some new explana- tion of the progressive increments and decrements of structure which constitute the history of organic life. The present part of this book will be devoted to an examination of this question, and to the exposition of such laws as may be derived from such examination, CHAPTER VIII.— HEREDITY. i. THE QUESTION STATED. IT IS the popular belief that characteristics of par- ents are transmitted to their offspring through the medium of the reproductive cells. This opinion is founded on an infinitude of observations easily made on plants, animals, and men, and in fact it is not de- nied as a general statement by anybody. It is a fact of ordinary observation that many and apparently most of the structural characteristics of one generation are inherited by its offspring. Not only is this the case, but the functionings of organs which depend on minute histological peculiarities are inherited. Such are points of mental and muscular idiosyncrasy; of weakness and strength of all or any of the viscera, and consequent tendencies to disease or vigor of spe- cial organs, Darwin has collected in his work on the Descent of Man numerous instances of the inheritance of various tricks of muscular movement of the face, hands, and other parts of the body. But it is a fact of equally ordinary observation that some peculiarities of parents are not, or may not be inherited, and among these may be enumerated mutilations and injuries, as well as characters which are normal. It is then a question of essential importance to ascertain what HEREDITY. 399 kinds of characters are inheritable, and what are not inheritable. It has been insisted by Weismann and others that characters which are newly acquired by an organism are not inherited, whether they be products of normal or abnormal conditions. In support of this view, he points to the early isolation in embryonic life of the reproductive cells from the remainder of the organism, and their continued isolation during later life, so that they are protected from the stimulating influences which affect the remainder of the body. He also points to the permanence of this isolation of the germ plasma from generation to generation, which insures only the transmission of those characters which it contains, as distinct from those which are found in the remaining cells of the organism, which constitute the body or soma. The characters which are inher- ited, and which are present at birth are termed con- genital, while those which appear in the body under the influence of external stimuli are termed acquired. The theory of Weismann then is, that the acquired characters are not inherited. Besides the fact that sporadic injuries and mutila- tions of the soma are not inherited, there have been cited various cases of the non-inheritance of mutila- tions which have been often repeated and for long periods of time. Thus the rupture of the hymen in human females has not been followed by its abolition. The practice of circumcision by the Jews has not re- sulted in the disappearance from that race of the por- tion of the body thus artificially removed. The con- tinued cutting of the hair of men of many races has not made it less abundant. The practice of distorting the feet of a class of their women by the Chinese has 4oo PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. ? • not modified the shape of that part of the structure in the race. I have myself cut off the tails of nine suc- cessive generations of mice without producing the slightest effect on the length of the tails of the tenth. Nevertheless such negative evidence only demon- strates that such modifications of the structure may not be inherited. A single undoubted example of the inheritance of a mutilation would prove that no in- surmountable barrier to such inheritance exists. And well authenticated examples of such cases are known and will be mentioned later on. But it is not with mutilations that the paleontologist has to do. The rupture of the hymen and circumcision, and most muti- lations, can only occur once in the life of the individual, and generally they produce no appreciable direct effect on his or her metabolic physiology. Moreover, the mutilations above cited as not inherited are experi- enced by but one sex, except in the case of the tails of the mice. The question is widely different with re- gard to the parts of the structure in which we observe- the real differences between organic types. The defi- nitions of natural divisions rest to a great extent on the diversities displayed by the organs of motion and nutrition. Now these are in use in animals during most of the hours not spent in sleep. Their move- ments are perpetual, and their activities only cease with death. It is then quite unreasonable to cite the history of mutilations as evidence against the inheri- tance of natural characters produced by oft-repeated and long continued natural causes. It has been shown in Part Second of this book that structural characters are produced by use and other stimuli to growth. It has also been shown in Part First that the characters so produced show a progres- HEREDITY, 401 sive increment or evolution from earlier or later geo- logic periods. There are two possible explanations of this phenomenon. The one is that the characters of one generation are inherited by the next, which adds to them by the activity of the same stimuli which gave them origin, thus producing progressive increase of growth. The alternative is, that these structural characters are produced by each generation for itself. It is obvious that the latter hypothesis provides for no additional development of a character in one gen- eration above another. There are other objections to the latter view, but letting these pass for the present, it is only necessary to examine the embryonic history of animals to show that it is entirely untenable. For if some or all of these acquired characters can be found present in the early stages of growth, as in the egg, the pupa, the foetus, etc., it becomes clear that such acquired characters have been inherited. That such is the fact is abundantly demonstrated by embryo- logical researches. This fact alone is sufficient to set at rest by an affirmative answer the question as to the inheritance of acquired characters. And that this answer applies to all time and to all evolution is made evident by the fact, which is disclosed by paleontology, that all characters now congenital have been at some per- iod or another acquired, 2. EVIDENCE FROM EMBRYOLOGY. a, Vertcbrata. I have already (p. 292) pointed out the gradual evolution through mechanical causes of the tongue and groove-joints in the Mammalia as exhibited by the distal ends of the metapodial bones of the feet where 402 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. they articulate with the phalanges. Mr. Carey having agreed with me that those have been produced by me- chanical causes, he alleges that they are not inherited, but are produced by each generation for itself. To this Dr. J. L. Wortman remarks as follows : "With reference to Mr. Carey's first proposition that the metapodial crests are produced during the life of each individual by the necessary interaction of parts, it appears to me to be a very simple one indeed. If they are produced, by pressure during the lifetime of each individual, and are not inherited, then clearly we should find the crests absent in new born animals that had never walked, and in which the metapodials had not been subjected to any impact or pressure what- ever. I have taken the trouble to examine a number of such examples in which the distal ends of the bones were entirely cartilaginous, and I find that the keels and grooves are as well developed as they are in the adult animal. I will cite one case in particular in which I happen to know the history completely. Dur- ing the past winter, a young hippopotamus was born in the Zoological Gardens in Central Park, New York, and it was stated to have been a premature birth ; the animal lived but twenty-four hours, and I was informed by the keeper that it never stood upon its feet. An examination of the feet shows that the distal ends of the metapodials are entirely cartilaginous, and in them the keels are as well prefigured in cartilage as they are formed in bone in the adult animal. I have also found the same to be true of new-born rabbits and guinea- pigs. In another case of a young buffalo calf preserved in the American Museum Collection, the distal keels of the metapodials are complete notwithstanding the fact that the epiphyses of all the bones are very im- HEREDITY. 403 perfectly ossified. This evidence, it appears to me, effectually disposes of the question of the production of these structures during the lifetime of the individ- ual. They are as truly inherited as is the number of digits or any other important organ in the animal econ- omy." Such observations may be repeated indefinitely. Thus the astragali of the higher Mammalia are already grooved before birth, and are not flat up to that time as in their Puerco ancestry. The reduction of digits appears very early in foetal life, and the ball and socket articulations of the cervical vertebrae of the Diplarthra are by no means introduced after birth. The teeth possess the normal structure of their crowns while yet in the alveoli before eruption. In some cases the transition from a primitive to a modern type of tooth has been observed to take place in the embryo. Dr. A. von Brunn1 has shown that in the embryos of the rat, the enamel-producing epithelial layer of the molar teeth undergoes a remarkable change at the places where the transverse crests of the crowns are to appear. Before the enamel layer is deposited, the portion of the epithelial layer corresponding to the cross-crests undergoes degeneration, as a result of which it acquires the character of a stratified squamous epithelium. Thus no enamel is laid down on the sum- mits of the cross-crests, which present the exposed dentine when erupted. Now it is a fact that the crowns of the molar teeth of the ancestors of the genus Mus, were covered with enamel at maturity, like all other 1 " Notiz iiber unvollkommene Schmelzentwickelung auf den Mahlzahnen der Ratte, Mus dccuinanus ' ' : Archivfiir Mikroskopische Anatomic, 1880, XVII, pp. 241-243, PI. XXVII. Ryder, American Naturalist, 1888, p. 547. 4o4 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. primitive Glires. The removal of the enamel from the apices of the tubercles and crests of their descendents is due to the abrasion consequent on ordinary use. On this Ryder (/. <:.) remarks : " The great value which is to be attached to the fact that abrasions of the enamel of the adult, which have reacted upon the functional activity of the enamel organ of the embryo rat, so that such mechanically induced alterations could be inherited, does not consist so much in the proof it affords that mutilations can be inherited, as it does that mutilations incurred in the ordinary struggle for existence, may, under certain conditions in certain practically feral species, be transmitted." Having shown by these examples that acquired characters can be inherited, I offer some other illus- trations which are at hand. b. Arthropoda. It has been already rendered probable if not certain (p. 268) that the segments of the body and limbs of the Arthropoda were originally produced by the movements of definite tracts on each other, during the period that the external surfaces were becoming hardened by chi- tinous or calcareous deposits. It is well known that this segmentation is no longer produced by this mechanical cause during the adolescent or any other post-embry- onic stage of the life of the individual, but that it ap- pears during the various stages of embryonic life, and is therefore inherited. Thus segmentation of the body appears in the embryo while still attached to the yolk. During the larval life of many insects the process of segmentation is suspended, but during the repose of pupal life, it goes on with great rapidity. In this stage while protected from external mechanical stimuli, the HEREDITY. 405 limbs with their specialized segments are fully devel- oped, so that the individual is mature as it issues from its prison. This illustration of inheritance derives its point in the present connection from the fact that it presents an example of the inheritance of characters which were plainly acquired by mechanical stimuli during post-embryonic life of the primitive ancestors of the Arthropoda. 3. EVIDENCE FROM PALEONTOLOGY. a. The Impressed Zone of the Nautiloids. I have already quoted Professor Hyatt on the par- allelism which is characteristic of the various series of nautiloid Cephalopoda, as discovered by paleontologic research. (P. 182.) The impressed zone is a character which has been produced by mechanical causes (pres- sure), and Prof. Hyatt has observed cases where this acquired peculiarity has been inherited in instances where the mechanical cause which produced it no longer existed. He describes these instances as follows :x "The characteristic dealt with in the paper of which this is an abstract, is of essential importance among nautiloids and ammonoids or all of the Cepha- lopoda having chambered shells and living within their shells. It consists mainly of an impression made on the inner side or dorsum of each outer whorl during the coiling up, as the whorl grows and is moulded over the venter or outer side of the next inner whorl. "This matter will be better understood, if a short description is given of the following figures. Fig. 115 shows an almost complete fossil cast of a full grown \American Naturalist, 1893. October, p. 865. Professor Hyatt has person- ally looked over and corrected these quotations. 406 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. Metatoceras cavatiformis Hyatt, and some of the lines or sutures made in the external surface of the cast by the intersections of the partitions or septa that cut up the coiled tube of the living shell into air cham- bers. Fig. 116 shows a broken specimen of the same species, but with the outer and older whorls in large part removed. The innermost septum near the center of the coil was built across the interior after the animal had constructed the hollow apex or point. It then moved along, adding to the external wall of the tube, Fig. 115- which has been destroyed and removed from this cast, and built the second septum, and so on until it reached the tenth septum. By some freak of fossilization a number of the septa beyond this have been destroyed, so that if we were to remove the fragment of the ex- ternal whorl and take out the center which has just been described, this would have the exact aspect of a cast of a young shell with ten air chambers.1 The IThe shaded area in the center, shaped like a large inverted comma, was an open space in the living shell. This is almost invariably filled by the HEREDITY. 407 eleventh air space or chamber being open and without divisions would then appear to be the living chamber which the animal occupied when it built the tenth sep- 1s- Fig. 116. turn. Normally the shell really continued to progress from the tenth septum by additions to the outer wall and put in new septa behind it, together with the con- Fig. 117. necting tube until it reached /, and finally the last septum, Is. This one, Is, was really the last one built rocky matrix in which the shells occur and is often, as in this specimen, al- lowed to remain. See also 4, 5, 6, of Fig. 119, which show the comma shaped umbilical perforations or openings left at the center through the crytoceran form of the young. PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. and it formed the floor of a true living chamber, Ic, formerly occupied by the animal at the time of its death and burial in the sediment of the carboniferous period. Fig. 115 shows a similar fossil but with a longer, although still incomplete living chamber. If the external wall of shell had been preserved none of these structures could be seen. Fig. 117 shows a fossil Temnochilus crassus, a shell of the same family, with this external wall preserved , and all these internal structures covered up. The impressed zone is the reentrant curve shown in all these figures and especially marked in the lower outline of an outer whorl of another carboniferous species, Metacoceras dubium Hyatt, Fig. 118, /;;/. z. "It is not necessary to go into a discussion of the details of internal structures and their relations to the impressed zone in this abstract, but it is essential to give a general description of the morphogeny of the order of nautiloids. "This group of chambered Cephalopods contains the following classes of forms : first, straight, conical shells, type Orthoceras, Fig. 119, No. i; second, curved cones, Cyrtoceras, Fig. 119, No. 2 ; third loosely coiled, open whorled cones, do., No. 3; fourth, coiled cones with the whorls more or less enveloping, do., No. 5. The fourth and fifth forms are usually included in the old genus, Nautilus. Practically, it is better to designate the first class as orthoceran, the second as cyrtoceran, the third as gyroceran, and the fourth and fifth as nautilian. In tracing genetic series through HEREDITY. 409 time they are found to diverge in their evolution, start- ing with the orthoceran and passing through parallel lines of forms, many of the genetic series having in succession cyrtoceran, gyroceran, and even nautilian forms of the fourth and fifth classes. Others are not so perfectly parallel, stopping short with the cyrto- ceran class of forms or the gyroceran. Many also begin with cyrtoceran shells, while others diverge from the gyroceran, and still other series have only nautilian shells of different grades of close coiling and involu- tion. " The application of the law of repetition in hered- ity to the chambered shell-covered cephalopods, shows that the straight orthoceran shells, Fig. 119, No. i, were repeated in the young of the curved cyrtoceran forms, Fig. 119, No. 2, and these forms in their turn in the young of the gyroceran forms, Fig. 119, No. 3 ; and this may be seen by comparing the young or api- cal part of each shell represented in outline with the full-grown shells of the preceding figures. The apex of No. 2, with the whole of No. i ; the apex of No. 3, with the whole of No. 2. It will be understood, of course, that the figures in outline represent full-grown shells, except when otherwise explained, and that they were built like the shells of Nos. 1-2, by an animal living in their interiors and adding band after band of shelly matter to the exterior, but in these outlines the shell is supposed to be perfect and the internal struc- tures concealed.1 The young of Fig. 119, No. 4, which represents the fourth class of forms repeats the cyrtoceran form, then curves more closely, and just before it comes in contact there is a short time when lExcept in No. 9, in which a portion of the shell is broken away, showing the cast of the interior and the sutures. Fig. 119. — Hyatt on Cephalopoda. HEREDITY. 411 EXPLANATION OF FIG. 119. LETTERING. a. Apex of shell. This usually bears a scar on the point, as shown in Nos. 14 and 15, but this has no bearing on the question discussed, and has not been described. This also represents the youngest (nepionic) or cyrto- ceran stage in the growth of the shell, No. 8 being a young shell with complete living chamber. This letter also indicates the location of the sections corre- spondingly lettered in the figures. b is used to indicate the section of the cyrtoceran stage in Nos. 11-13. b' is used to indicate the place of the sections, Nos. 4-5^', upon the whorls of Nos. 4-5. They were taken through the whorl in the gyroceran stage. c is used for the adolescent (neanic) stage of growth in the whorl and the corresponding sections. c' is used for the full-grown (ephebic) stage in the growth of the whorl and the corresponding sections. d for the first part of the senile (gerontic) stage. e for the final and most degenerative part of the senile stage. iz for the impressed zone. •v venter or outer side of the shell, the dorsum being the inner side of the whorl. w for the whorls, thus i w in Nos. 3 and 4 means the end of the first whorl, zw the beginning of the second whorl, 3 w that of the third whorl. These letters serve to show the progressive increase in numbers of the whorls in the different classes of forms. FIGURES. No. i. Outline of an orthoceran shell. No. 2. Outline of cyrtoceran shell. No. 3. Outline of gyroceran shell. No. 4. Outline of nautilian shell, having a larger umbilical perforation at (a) and fewer whorls at the same age, than in No. 5 ; in other words, it is less tightly and completely coiled up than the class of shells represented by that figure. No. 5. A nautilian shell with tighter coils than in No. 4 and the whorls coming in contact and the impressed zone beginning at an earlier stage. No. 6. Barrandeoceras bohemicum (sp. Barrande) Hyatt, showing the most involute of the Silurian shells so far as known ; No. 6 is reduced in size, but the section No. 7 is natural size. No. 8. A young shell of the same, natural size, with complete living chamber. Nos. 9-10. Coloceras globatum (sp. De Koninck) Hyatt, adult. No. 9 has a part of the outer shell broken off, showing the edges of the septal partitions (sutures) as lines on the strong cast of the interior. Nos. 11-13. Same to show the cyrtoceran stage and section, with its im- pressed zone. No. 14. Cenoceras clausum, Hyatt. Nos. 15-16. Nautilus pompilius, to show the cyrtoceran stage with its im- pressed zone. 412 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. it overlaps the apex without touching it. At this time it is plainly gyroceran, like the whole of No. 3. After it touches the first whorl just beyond the apex it re- mains in contact, and the inner side or dorsum of the second or overlapping whorl begins to show a flatten- ing as a result of this collision of the whorls. The sec- tions of the orthoceran, cyrtoceran, and gyroceran whorls show no such flattening in any of the speci- mens examined, although hundreds of different kinds have been studied. The sections are designated on the plate by the same letters as the supposed lines of the sections made through the tube, and although dia- grammatic figures, they give a sufficiently clear gen- eral explanation of the facts observed. More specific figures could have been given in abundance and will be given in the paper now in course of preparation.1 "Fig. 119, No. 5, shows the same phenomena as No. 4. The young is at first cyrtoceran like the adult whorl of No. 2, and open, then becomes gyroceran in curvature and finally overlaps the apex when it has arrived at the end of the first volution, but does not at first touch it. Then coming into contact it acquires a flattened area or faint impressed zone on the dorsum or inner side of the second volution, as is shown in the section No. $c. This is similar to the section of No. 4 shown in No. 4^', which represents a cut through an adult whorl of the fourth class of forms. It differs only in being smaller, on account of the younger stage of growth at which it occurs. "The entire series of forms from orthoceran to nau- tilian is more or less represented, even in the earliest period at which the nautiloids appear, namely, in the ISee "Phylogeny of an Acquired Characteristic," Hyatt, Proceedings American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, XXXII., No. 143. HEREDITY. 413 rocks of the Quebec group. There is, however, this qualification : the fifth class of forms, or the involute nautilian, are relatively rare and become more abun- dant in successive periods. The young of nautilian shells of the earlier periods are also apt to be less closely coiled, or, in other words, remain open and similar to cyrtoceras for a longer time during their growth. This is shown by the large size of the central hole, or um- bilical perforation, left in the center of full-grown shells. This perforation is much larger, as a rule, in Paleozoic than in the Mesozoic forms. " In each period the genetic series or groups of nau- tilian forms have peculiarities of structure in the su- tures, ornaments, apertures, etc., by which they can be separated from each other, and these peculiarities are the same as those possessed by gyroceran, cyrto- ceran, and often orthoceran shells which occurred often earlier in time, so that one can trace each group of nautilian shells back to its ancestors through the par- allel stages of evolution above described. The groups, in other words, are parallel in their morphogenesis, like two individuals of the same parents in their de- velopment from youth to old age. "As a general rule the impressed zone originates, as described above, after the whorls come in contact, rarely before this time in the growth of any individ- uals. Barrandeoceras is one of the most involute shells known in the Silurian, and Fig. 119, No. 6, gives a true sketch of this species ; No. 7, shows a section of a full-grown shell with a decided impressed zone, and No. 8 is the young. This last is a purely cyrtoceran form with a compressed elliptical section like that of No. 7, but no impressed zone, the inner side being rounded like the diagram of Cyrtoceras, No. 2. The 414 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. impressed zone is not present in the young of Ophidi- oceras, the closest coiled of all these forms, nor in the young of most species of the Silurian before the whorls touch, and all of the species likely to present this pecu- liarity have been investigated. "The impressed zone is also, as a rule, lost in the oldest stage of the whorl of every individual when the whorls cease to continue to grow in contact. This condition is represented in the last part of the outer- most whorl of Nos. 4 and 5 in sections, Nos. 4. A game-cock, in his second year, lost an eye 432 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. in a fight. Soon after, and while the wound was very malignant (it never entirely healed), he was turned into a flock of game hens of another strain. He was otherwise healthy and vigorous. A very large propor- tion of his progeny had the corresponding eye defec- tive. The chicks were not blind when hatched, but became so before attaining their full growth ; some at the time of acquiring the pin-feathers, others later and before reaching maturity. The hens afterwards pro- duced normal chickens with another cock. Both strains had been purely bred for ten or more years, and none of the fowls had been blind unless from fights. ' '(This case was reported to me by an educated and reliable breeder of game-fowls.) " c. A hunting mare had a split pastern and was then used for breeding. Her first, third, and fourth foals were sound, the second one had 'almost an exact reproduction of the mare's unsoundness.' "(This is on the authority of the celebrated veteri- nary surgeon, Clement Stevenson, as occurring under his own observation, ' not hearsay. ' Live Stock Jour- nal, London, November 23, 1888, p. 508.) "d. A female (and very prolific) cat, when about half grown met with an accident. ' Her fine, long tail was trodden on and had a compound fracture, two ver- tebrae being so displaced that they ever after formed a short offset between the near and far end of the tail, leaving the two out of line. At first I noted that out of every litter of kittens some had a tail with a querl in it.' With successive litters the deformity increased, until 'not a kitten of the old cat had a straight tail, and it grew worse in her progeny until now we have not a cat with a normal tail on the premises,' (in a cat- HEREDITY. 433 population of six or eight, exclusive of young kittens). 'The tails are now in part mere stumps, some have a semicircular sweep sideways, and some have the orig- inal querl. Perhaps the deformity was somewhat aggravated by in-and-in breeding and by artificial se- lection practised by my Chinaman, who, with the per- versity of his race, preferred the crooked tails, and thus preserved them in preference to the normal kit- tens. There are no other abnormally-tailed cats in the neighborhood/ "This is the essential part of an unpublished letter from that keen observer and eminent scientist, Prof. Eugene W. Hilgard of the University of California. " Numerous cases have been recorded as occurring with mankind. I will give but two, both of which have not before been published. ' ' e. A person, when a boy of ten years, cut the terminal phalange of the little finger of his left hand with a sickle. The joint was not injured, nor was the function of the finger seriously impaired. There was, however, an obvious deformity. The finger was ill- shaped and crooked, and the nail abnormal. He mar- ried and had two children, the first a son, with normal fingers, the second a daughter, who had the little fin- ger of the corresponding (the left) hand deformed from birth in the same manner. The function of the finger was not seriously injured, but the deformity was precisely the same in shape, even to the malformation of the finger-nail. She died at thirty, without chil- dren, consequently no observation on a succeeding generation could be noted. None of his other kindred had malformed fingers, nor had any ancestor of the child for at least three generations, and there was no knowledge of any such in the more remote ancestry. 434 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. "(This case was related to me in full detail by the father with- the deformed finger, and with whom I was personally acquainted. He was an eminent physician, the president of a large and reputable medical college, and his name is well known to the profession.) "/. A woman thirty-five years of age had both kneepans broken. Erysipelas and other complications prevented the use of the usual surgical appliances for keeping the severed parts together while healing, so they never united by bony union, but became joined by intervening cartilage. The hurt was peculiarly painful and slow of healing, because of the complica- tions alluded to, but the general health was fully re- stored. For some years after healing there was a very pronounced groove or furrow along the line of fracture over the connecting cartilage, especially in the right knee. The outer edges of the fractured bone were sharp at first, but ultimately became rounded by ab- sorption. Both fractures were V-shaped. The right knee had the parts wider separated at the time of the accident, and was again partially torn asunder three and a half months later, and the furrow consequently remained very much broader and deeper than in the other knee. About four months (124 days) after the first accident, and while still unable to walk, she gave birth to a son. No abnormal appearance was noticed at the time, and later was not looked for until the child was ten or more years old, when he called atten- tion to the matter himself. There was then a deep and well-defined groove across the surface of the right kneepan, very plainly perceivable through the skin. It corresponded precisely in shape and position with the fracture and the later furrow in the corresponding bone in the mother. It was most pronounced before HEREDITY. 435 the age of sixteen. After that the edges became modi- fied by growth or absorption, becoming less sharp, following in this respect the changes that gradually occurred in the shape of the bone in the mother. The son is otherwise normal. Three other children of the same parents, one born before and two after the birth of the one described, are entirely normal. The ances- tors of both parents are known for several generations (from three to eight in the several lines) and all were normal, so far as is known." "(This case has been under my own observation during the whole period.) "It wrill be noticed that in the cases a, b, and/", the injury to the parent occurred shortly before or during gestation, and that the healing had not taken place until after the birth of the offspring. Also, that the function of the organ involved, an important organ in the animal economy, was at the time suspended. Also that in all these cases, later offspring were normal." e. Inheritance of Characters Due to Regional Influences. Characters of this kind mostly come under the head of Physiogenesis. A case of inheritance is thus re- corded by Brewer. "The texture and certain other characters of wool which are of practical importance to manufacturers, depend in part on the breed and health of the animals, in part on the kind of food and on its uniformity of supply, and in part on local conditions of climate, soil, and forage. The wool grown in some regions is harsher than that grown in others, and this is certainly an acquired character in that it takes place in flocks taken from one region to another. I have specimens of wool alleged to have been taken from the same 436 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. flock, the same individual animals, when pastured at two stations. The first were shorn when the sheep were pastured in southeastern Ohio, where the sheep were bred, a region noted for certain excellencies of its wool. Taken to a certain portion of Texas, and pastured on an alkaline soil, the wool of those sheep took another character, affecting both its texture and also its behavior with dyes. Treated in the same vats, as to dye, lac and mordant, the difference is very ob- vious. "A certain harshness of the wools produced in some regions where the soil is alkaline or salt, the climate dry, and the forage plants characteristic of such regions, is widely known and is considered a de- fect by manufacturers. It is stated that when a flock is taken from a favorable region to such a less favor- able one the change in the character of the wool begins immediately, but is more marked in the succeeding fleeces than in the first. It is also alleged that the harshness increases with succeeding generations, and that the flocks which have inhabited such regions sev- eral generations produce naturally a harsher wool than did their ancestors, or do the new-comers. "Now, in this case, the deterioration in successive generations cannot possibly be due to panmixia, the withdrawal of selection ; on the contrary, selection goes on under the new conditions just as carefully as under the old, and often more so, for this is the means used to lessen the evil. "If this increase in the harshness of the wool of succeeding generations is due in part to the inheri- tance of an acquired character, it is very understand- able. That it is a congenital adventitious variation HEREDITY. 437 coincident in all the individuals of immense flocks, is a mathematical absurdity. "We have an analogous regional character in the hoofs of horses. From early times it has been a known fact that the feet of horses produced in mountainous and hilly regions stand travel on hard roads and on city pavements better than those bred on softer low lands, however rich and fertile the latter may be. European writers of previous centuries are very specific on this point. Jacquet, over two centuries ago, cites it as a fact true alike in Spain, Italy, and other countries of Europe. I have interviewed the livery-stable men in various eastern cities as to the relative character in that particular of the horses bred in the hilly regions of New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, com- pared with those produced on the prairies, and the testimony is almost unanimous to the same effect. The old Vermont bred horses are still famous. "This regional character cannot be a matter of se- lection and adventitious variation. It must be related to the environment alone, and environment can only act on the living individual. If this fact is due to the inheritance of acquired characters, it is very easily understood. The different effects of exercise of the feet of the growing animal in the one case on the hard, stony soil of the hills, in the other, on the softer and fine soil of the prairies, makes a difference in the ac- quired characters, a difference of the very kind spoken of, and which becomes congenital." At the close of this series of papers Brewer re- marks : "The art of breeding has become in a meas- ure an applied science; the enormous economic inter- ests involved stimulate observation and study, and what is the practical result? This ten years of active 438 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. promulgation of the new theory has not resulted in the conversion of a single known breeder to the extent of inducing him to conform his methods and practice to the theory. My conclusion is that they are essentially right in their deductions founded on their experience and observations, namely, that acquired characters may be, and sometimes are, transmitted, and that the speculations of the Weismann school of naturalists are unfounded." 5 THE CONDITIONS OF INHERITANCE. Since the evidence adduced must be regarded as proving that characters acquired by an organism may be transmitted by inheritance, we next endeavor to ascertain what information is within our reach which can throw light on this mysterious process. Although Weismann has demonstrated the isolation and stability of the germ-plasma to exceed that of other tissues, he has not proven that it is entirely inaccessible to exter- nal influences. He admits that its continual subdivi- sion by the development from it of the embryonic soma, would have speedily reduced it to an infinitesi- mal quantity, were it not that it grows by accession of nutritive material like other tissues, which nutritive material is furnished by the soma. The accessibility of the germ-plasma to stimuli which affect the soma is then clearly possible. The effect of the specialization of tissues on their nutrition and repair after injury, is well known. Nu- trition of each tissue produces only that tissue. Re- pair or restoration of parts is confined to the repro- duction of a tissue similar to the part lost, or similar to some unfinished or embryonic stage of it. The lower we descend in the scale of life, the more com- HEREDITY. 439 plete is the reproduction of a lost part. The special- ization of the higher organisms deprives the tissue of the capacity for exact reproduction. As an example of the reduction of this capacity, I cite the reproduc- tion of the tail of lizards, where no vertebrae are repro- duced, but in its place a notochord ; while the squa- mation presents a simpler character than that of the normal tail. The possibility of reproducing the entire organism is restricted, in the multicellular animals, to the germ-plasma, which therefore may be regarded as retaining the characteristic of the protozoon, which reproduces itself by division. But in the multicellular plants the power of reproduction of the entire organ- ism from any of its parts, is retained to a much greater degree than in multicellular animals. The reproduc- tion of plants by cuttings, buds, tubers, and even by single leaves, is well known ; a characteristic which is due to the general distribution of unspecialized proto- plasm throughout the organism. Inheritance of char- acters is in these cases known to be very exact, and there can be here no isolation of the germ-plasma. This isolation is progressively more pronounced as we rise in the scale of specialization of structure, but that it ever becomes absolute, the facts before us forbid us to believe. Having thus seen that the plasma of the germ-cells is open to the influence of stimuli, let us see how it is possible that such stimuli can be transmitted to it, and how they could affect growth of the embryo. It has been shown that impressions experienced by an animal during one stage of development may be effective in causing the appearance of new structure in a later stage. I have already quoted (Chap. V.) from Poulton the results of experiments on the colors of 440 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION Lepidoptera by several English entomologists. By exposure to different colors, of larvae which were ap- proaching the period of pupation, corresponding colors were produced in the pupae. Thus black, dark, green, and yellow larvae, and larvae with gilt spots or entirely gilded, were produced at will. In this instance the dynamic effect produced by the exposure was stored for the period which elapsed between the exposure of the larva and the full development of the pupa. In another experiment, larvae which were in the act of weaving cocoons, on exposure to certain colors, were induced to weave cocoons of corresponding color. This experiment demonstrates that a stimulus may be transmitted to a gland so as to modify the character of its secretion in a new direction. From both experi- ments we learn the transmissibility of energy from the point of stimulus to a remote region of the body, and its conversion into growth energy (in this case by Physiogenesis). This prepares us to look upon hered- ity as an allied phenomenon, i. e., the transmission of a special energy from a point of stimulus to the germ- cells, and its composition there with the emphytogenic (inherited) energy into bathmism (or evolutionary en- ergy). The relation of inherited and acquired characters in a series of generations may be graphically repre- sented as follows : Let S represent the aggregate of character of the body (soviet] of a given species in pro- cess of progressive evolution or acceleration. Let g represent the aggregate of characters potential (or dy- namically present) in the germ cells of the same indi- vidual. For the sake of simplification of the problem I consider here only one sex, and imagine the repro- duction to be parthenogenetic. Let A represent the HEREDITY. 441 new character acquired by the soma under the appro- priate stimulus, and let a represent the same charac- teristic as it is impressed on the germ-plasma of the same individual at the same time, and in consequence of the same stimulus. The history of the acquisition and incorporation of newly acquired characters by the line of descent originating with the species S-\-g, may be represented as follows, for successive generations, which are numbered i, 2, 3, etc. l SA 5 S 6 S Fig. 120. — Diagram explanatory of Diplogenesis. Under the appropriate stimulus the soma ,S acquires A, and the germ plasma g the identical a1 as the first stage. The character A a1 being only inheritable via the germ-plasma, it is represented by a1 in the second stage or generation, where it appears as an addition to the characters of S and g, so that the soma of the second generation is represented by the expression Sal, and the germ-plasma by g(a1} ; (on the supposi- 442 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. tion that SA -f- gal represents the first of a line in which a given character appears). A new character or an additional increment of the same character, appears in the second stage of acceleration "2," and is repre- sented as before, by Aa~, the A appearing in the soma, and the a- being added to the character of the germ- plasma. In the third stage, the new character a2 ap- pears in the soma, which now becomes Sala2. The a- acquired by the germ-plasma of the second stage, is inherited by that of the third, which is therefore rep- resented by g^a2}. To the third stage is now added the acquisition Aa*. The aB is again incorporated into the soma of the succeeding or fourth stage, which is therefore represented by the expression Sala2a3; while the germ-plasma of the same (fourth, "4,") stage, is represented by g^a-a3), and so on. The lines of im- mediate inheritance are represented by straight lines. The vertical lines represent the descent of characters from one type of the germ-plasma to a succeeding one ; and the oblique lines represent the transmission of the same characters to the soma into which it grows, as the succeeding generation or stage. The letters a1, a2, etc., expressive of characters ac- quired by the germ-plasma, are numbered for identifi- cation only. Should the influences derived from the ancestry of the other sex be added to the diagram its complexity would become inconvenient, and they are therefore omitted. It is to be also observed, that the enumeration of generations as immediately successive, as 1-2-3 etc., is to be understood as indicating succes- sion only, and not any exact number of generations. In the hypothesis of heredity above outlined, it is insisted that the effects of use and disuse are two-fold ; viz.: the effect on the soma, and the effect on the HEREDITY. 443 germ-plasma. Those who sustain the view that ac- quired characters are inherited, must, I believe, un- derstand it as thus stated. The character mustjb£ potentially acquired by the germ-plasma as well as ac- tually by the soma. Those who insist that acquired characters are not inherited, forget that the character acquired by the soma is identical with that acquired by the germ-plasma, so that the character acquired by the former is inherited, but not directly. It is acquired contemporaneously by the germ-plasma, and inherited from it. There is then truth in the two apparently op- posed positions, and they appear to me to be harmon- ized by the doctrine above laid down, which I have called the Theory of Diplogenesis, in allusion to the double destination of the effects of use and disuse in inheritance. From the preceding considerations we learn that a new character is not inherited unless it is acquired by germ-plasma, as well as by the soma. Should it fail of the former it will not be inherited, although it may appear in the soma. It is also evident that the same character appears in the soma of later generations by virtue of its inheritance by their germ-plasma. Hence, should it fail to appear in the adult soma of one gen- eration, it might arise in a later one ; and hence the possibility of atavism, and an alternation of genera- tions. Intermittent stimulus might be followed by in- termittent activity of growth energy. This would be especially apt to occur during the assumption of sex- uality by animals and plants whose reproduction had been performed by cell-division or budding only. And such is the character of most types of alternate gene- rations ; a sexual type alternates with a non-sexual type. The advantages being on the side of sexual re- 444 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. production on account of its increased opportunity of variation, it has replaced the more primitive method by the process of natural selection. The time when the impressions of physical habits are conveyed to the reproductive elements has an im- portant bearing on the question of inheritance. Pro- fessor Osborn1 has thus classified the agencies which lie at the basis of organic evolution. Opposite to each he states the theories which have been proposed to account for them : A. Onto genie a. Gonagenic, i. e., those aris- ing in the germ-cells, including "blastogenic " in part of Weis- mann, the " primary variations" of Emery. b. Gamogenic, i.e., those aris- ing from maturation and fertili- zation, including the "blasto- genic" in part of Weismann, and secondary or Weismannian variations of Emery. c. Embryogenic, i.e., those oc- curring during early cell-divi- sion, including the blastogenic and somatogenic of Weismann. d. Somatogenic, i.e., those oc- curring during larval and later development after the formation of the germ-cells. Variations. Theoretically connected with pathological, nutritive chemico- physical, nervous influences, in- cluding the doubtful phenomena of Xenia and Telegony. Theoretically connected with influences named above, also with the combination of diverse ancestral characters, Amphi- mixis of Weismann. Theoretically connected with extensive anomalies due to ab- normal segmentation, and other causes observed in the mechan- ical embryology of Roux, Wil- son, Driesch, and others. Connected with reactions be- tween the hereditary develop- ment forces of the individual and the environment. B. Phylogenic Variations. Variations from types originating in any of the above stages which become hereditary. 1 American Naturalist, 1895, p. 426: "On the Hereditary Mechanism and the Search for Unknown Factors of Evolution." HEREDITY. 445 Osborn points out that Euffon appealed to the "direct action of the environment" as a cause of evo- lution, in so general a way, as to embrace all the con- ditions above enumerated. St. Hilaire dwelt on the embryogenic influences, while Lamarck laid stress on the somatogenic. Darwin only discussed variation after it came into being. The distinctions pointed out by Osborn relate to the period of life at which modifying influences are experienced ; that is, they are time distinctions. They must all, however, be included under two heads when the sources of influence are considered. That is, they must proceed from the organism itself, or from the en- vironment directly. Those proceeding from the or- ganism may also be divided into two classes, viz., those which are inherent in the physical and chemical characters of protoplasm, and those which have been acquired by generations prior to any given one under consideration. In this work I attend first to the prob- ably efficient or phylogenetic causes, and these may be regarded as having been at some time or another dur- ing the history of the phylum as somatogenic. On this view, I have regarded the life of an animal as divided into three periods ; those of embryonic life, of adolescence, and of maturity. During embryonic life impressions are exclusively somatic, and can be only obtained through or from parental stimulus and parental environment. Such will reach the embryo through nu- trition, and through the direct mechanical contacts and strains of the environment. The environment of unpro- tected embryos is external to the parent ; that of long protected embryos is the walls of the oviduct, uterus, etc., within the parent. Ryder has alleged with much reason that the nature of the contact of the chorion with 446 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. the walls of the oviducts or uterus has determined the shape of the placenta ; and that the invagination of the embryo which resulted in the development of the am- nion is a result of gravitation. While these facts have an important bearing on the study of inheritance, they have but a collateral relation to evolution ; since the embryo, whether in utero or in ovo, has little oppor- tunity of experiencing the external influences which are only possible at later periods of life. It is during ado- lescence that the normal activities of maturity, except reproduction, are first practised, whether inherited or learned for the first time. The superior capacity of the adolescent stage for acquisition in all directions is well known, and it is reasonable to suppose that since growth is not completed, changes in its details can be most readily introduced. It is to this period of life then that we must look for the effective influence of the factors of evolution in the acquisition of new characters of the soina. And if the nervous, muscular and other tissues react at this period most readily to external stimuli, it is to be supposed that the developing reproductive cells possess the same characteristic, and record in their molecular movements the influences which are experienced by the entire body. Such influences on the reproductive cells, repeated millions of times from generation to generation, must produce a definite effect on them, in spite of the conservatism which their com- parative isolation imposes on them.1 The transmission of acquired characters is evi- dently accomplished during the adult period. While the influence on the soma is greatest during ado- lescence, the influence on the germ plasma is prob- ably important during maturity, because habits formed ^American Xatztralist, December, 1889, "On Inheritance in Evolution." HEREDITY. 447 during adolescence are now practised with especial energy and frequency. The influence on the constantly renewed germ-plasma is correspondingly greater, and transmission is of course more certain. Some charac- ters seem to have been mainly acquired during matur- ity. Such is the permanent dentition of the higher Mammalia, which does not appear until or after ma- turity. In this case the influence of use on the germ- plasma must be more energetic than that on the soma. It is, however, not unlikely that the fundamental char- acters of mammalian dentition were laid during ado- lescence by direct influence on the temporary dentition. The tritubercular molar was established at that time and owes its present existence to inheritance. Only the sectorial and lophodont types have been added since the extensive development of the milk dentition in geologic time. The chief source from which acquired characters are introduced into the germ-plasma, and hence into the soma of the next generation, is probably the sper- matozooid, since it is endowed with a greater kinetic energy than the ovum. The latter furnishes nutritive material for the supply of the needs of growth. That the male is the chief source of variation is also indi- cated in the numerous cases when he is more active than the female, and hence more capable of supplying the stimulus of use. The manner in which influences which have af-' fected the general structure are introduced into the germ-cells remains the most difficult problem of biol- ogy. For its explanation we have nothing as yet but hypotheses. The one which has seemed to me to be the most reasonable belongs to the field of molecular physics, and it must be long before it is either proved 448 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. or disproved. I have termed it a "dynamic theory," and it is in some respects similar to that subsequently proposed by Haeckel under the name of the "peri- genesis of the plastidule." I have already referred to the phenomena of the building or growth of the added characters which constitute progressive evolution as evidence of the existence of a peculiar species of en- ergy, which I termed bathmism. This is to be ex- plained as a mode of motion of the molecules of living protoplasm, by which the latter build tissue at par- ticular points, and do not do so at other points. This action is most easily observed in the beginnings of growth, as in the segmentation of the oosperm, the formation of the blastodermic layers, of the gastrula, of the primitive groove, etc. In the meroblastic em- bryo the energy is evidently in excess at one part of the oosperm, and in defect at another. This is a sim- ple example of the "location of growth force or bath- mism." In all folding or invagination there is ex- cess of growth at the region which becomes the con- vex face of the fold; i. e., a location or especial ac- tivity of bathmism at that point. All modifications of form can be thus traced to activity of this energy at particular points. A basis is thus laid for a more or less complex organism, and the channels of nutritive pabulum being once established, the location or dis- tribution of the energy is assured in the directions in which they lead. Thus with the establishment of cir- culating channels nutrition is definitely guided to par- ticular points. It is evident that on this hypothesis the bases of evolutionary change are laid in the em- bryonic tissues, where bathmism displays its activity in producing the base forms on which all subsequent structure is moulded. HEREDITY. 449 The building energy being thus understood to be a mode of molecular motion, we are not at liberty to suppose that its existence is dependent on the dimen- sions of the organic body which exhibits it. It is as char- acteristic of the organic unit or plastidule as the mode of motion which builds the crystal is of the simplest molecular aggregate from which the crystal arises. Bathmism has, however, no other resemblance to crystalloid cohesion. The latter is a simple energy which acts within geometrically related spaces, with- out regard to anything else but the present compulsion of superior weight-energy. In bathmism we see the resultant of innumerable antecedent influences, which builds an organism constructed for adaptations to the varied and irregularly occurring contingencies which characterize the life of living beings. As this resultant is distinctive for every species, bathmism must be regarded as a generic term, and the characteristic growth-energy of each species as distinct species of energy, which presents also diversities expressive of the peculiarities of individuals. The preceding statements do not, of course, con- stitute an explanation of the exact manner in which a stimulus which effects say the contraction of a muscle, effects molecular movements of the nuclei of the re- productive cells. This is a question of organic molec- ular physics, a science which has made scarcely a be- ginning. That the transmission of such influence is through nutritive channels, by the intermediation of a nervous structure where one exists, may be supposed. Poulton's experiments on Lepidoptera, already cited, led him to believe that the effect of color-environment was transmitted to the pigment-cells through the me- dium of the nervous system. That the modus opcrandi 450 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. is similar to that which produces reflexes may be also reasonably supposed. How the record of these move- ments become reflexes, Us concentrated in a reproduc- tive cell, is a question to be solved only in a more ad- vanced stage of knowledge of organic physics than we now possess. Speculation in this direction takes the following forms. According to one view the energy or molecu- lar movement must be transmitted to the germ-plasma through a material or molecular basis. This basis, it may be supposed, must be that which receives the mechanical impression which is to produce a corre- sponding modification of growth-energy in the ovum or spermatozooid ; that is, in the case of a modified bone-articulation, particles of matter must pass from the latter through the medium of the circulation to the reproductive cells. The alternative hypothesis is, that the energy which causes the active region to make or omit to make a given movement, the result of which is to be structural modification in the young, is im- pressed through protoplasmic channels on the germ- cells of either sex. In this case the transmission of particles of matter is not necessary, as material connec- tion through the cells, nervous or other, already exists. To the first of these points of view belong the pan- genesis theory of Darwin, and the modified pangenesis of Weismann. These hypotheses present the difficulty that we must conceive of each particle or "gemmule" derived from a given part of the organism finding its way through the circulation to its exact place in the growing embryo ; or otherwise, of transmitting its pe- culiar mode of motion to the correct molecules of the embryo, without error as to locality. The difficulties to be encountered in accomplishing such a feat seem HEREDITY. 451 to be insuperable. Hyatt well expresses these in the following language : ' ' Every purely corpuscular throng . . . must not only account for a difficulty as great as that of the camel and the needle's eye, but must also account for putting the numberless characters derived from the entire caravan of its immediate progenitors and remote wild ancestors and their progenitors back to the origin of their phylum, through the same nar- row tunnel. This physical difficulty is still further enhanced by the fact that the ova and spermatozoa do not increase in size in proportion to the increasing number of characters transmitted." (Proc. Boston Soc. N. H., 1893, p. 70.) The transmission of a mode of motion organized in a central nervous system, is less inconceivable. This central system is the seat of a composition of incoming stimuli and of outgoing energies, the resultant of both combined constituting the active agency in the pro- duction of automatic adaptive or intelligent adaptive movements of any and all of the organs. It appears to me that we can more readily conceive of the trans- mission of a resultant form of energy of this kind to the germ-plasma than of material particles or gem- mules. Such a theory is sustained by the known cases of the influence of maternal impressions on the grow- ing foetus. Going into greater detail, we may compare the building of the embryo to the unfolding of a record or memory, which is stored in the central nervous or- ganism of the parent, and impressed in greater or less . part on the germ-plasma during its construction, in the order in which it was stored. This record may be supposed to be woven into the texture of every organic cell, and to be destroyed by specialization in modified cells in proportion as they are incapable of repro- 452 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. ducing anything but themselves. The basis of mem- ory is reasonably supposed to be a molecular (or atomic) arrangement from which can issue only a definite corresponding mode of motion. That such an arrangement exists in the central nervous organism is demonstrated by automatic and reflex movements. It is also demonstrated by the fact that the memory of the position and parts of amputated limbs is re- tained by the sensory center, so that irritation of the stump is referred to the lost limb. That the entire record is not repeated in automatic and reflex acts, but only that part of it which was last acquired, may be regarded as due to the muscular and other systems concerned in it having performed it most recently, and having for a longer or shorter period omitted to per- form the older movement, because the latest struc- tures of the organs would render the performance of the old movements impossible. In other words, the physiological division of labor extends to memory at the basis. In the case of the germ-plasma no other specialization exists, so that the entire record may be repeated stage after stage, thus producing the succes- sion of type-structures which embryology has made familiar to us. In the process of embryonic growth, one mode of motion would generate its successor in obedience to the molecular structural record first laid down in the ovum and spermatozooi'd, and then com- bined and recomposed on the union of the two in the oospore, or fertilized ovum. If the doctrine of kinetogenesis be true, this energy has been moulded by the interaction of the living be- ing and its environment. It is the recorded expression of the habitual movements of the organism which have become impressed on, and recorded in, the rcproduc- HEREDITY. 453 tive elements. It is evident that these and the other or- ganic units of which the organism is composed possess a memory-structure which determines their destiny in the building of the embryo. This is indicated by the re- capitulation of the phylogenetic history of its ancestors displayed in embryonic growth. This memory has perhaps the same molecular basis as the conscious memory, but for reasons unknown to us, consciousness does not preside over its activities. The energy which follows its guidance has become automatic, and it builds what it builds with the same regardlessness of immediate surroundings as that which is displayed by the crystallific growth-energy. It is incapable of a new design, except as an addition to its record. Were all cells identical in characters, every one would retain the structural record, or memory of its past physical history, as do the unicellular organisms. Evolution has, however, so modified most of the struc- tural units of the organic body that none but the ner- vous and reproductive cells retain this record, in greater or less perfection. The nervous cells have been specialized as the recipients of new impressions, and the excitors of definite corresponding movements in the cells of the remainder of the organism. The somatic cells retain only the record or memory of their special function. On the other hand, the reproduc- tive cells, which most nearly resemble the independent unicellular organisms, retain first the impressions re- ceived during their primitive unicellular ancestral con- dition ; and second, those which they have acquired through the organism of which they have been and are only a part. The medium through which they can receive such impression is continuous protoplasm. Whether, in the higher animals, it is effected through 454 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION, that system of cells called the nervous system, which has been specialized through use and natural selection to receive impressions from without, and to transmit them to such parts of the organism as are capable of receiving them, or whether it is transmitted through other media, as in lower animals and in plants which possess no such system, is unknown. The only cells which can retain the entire record in the higher ani- mals are the reproductive cells. In the lower animals and plants it is well known that germ-plasma is not confined to reproductive organs, but is widely dissemi- nated throughout the organism. In some forms it seems that all of the sarcode is capable of reproduction. This is the logical result of the considerations which have occupied the preceding pages, and is the carrying out of the bathmism theory of heredity, of which I have given hitherto only the bare outline. Since Darwin, successive contributions have been made to the theory of heredity in its relation to evolu- tion. In 1868 and 1871 the present writer advanced the dynamic hypothesis, but made no attempt to ex- plain the mode of conveyance of dynamic impressions and modifications to the germ-cells. The theory of "perigenesis," proposed by Haeckel in 1873, is of the same character, and is deficient in the same way. The modified pangenesis theory of Brooks, published in 1883, 1 attempts to supply the defect found in the pre- vious conceptions, but does so by assuming with Dar- win the intermediation of gemmules, a hypothesis to which sufficient objection has been made by Galton and others. Brooks's theory also fails to admit the origin of variations through mechanical stresses, al- though he seeks for the origin of gemmules through 1 The Law of Heredity, Baltimore, 1883, p. 80. HEREDITY 455 the lack of equilibrium between the organization and its environment, which embraces that proposition without definite specification. To Weismann we are indebted for the exposition of the separate origin and relative isolation of the germ-plasma, but no sufficient explanation of the origin and inheritance of new char- acters is offered. Ryder1 has especially dwelt on the physiological division of labor seen in the tissues of the organism, and on the special function of the germ- plasma as the recipient of impressions through the processes of metabolism ; but he does not go into greater detail. What is true of the somatic cells is also true of those which follow immediately the segmentation of the oosperm. Each division contains the entire record, until a point is reached in which specialization of its growth-capacities begins. Dr. Chalmers Mitchell thus discusses the question as to the location of specialized growth in the oosperm :2 " Loeb uses the term heteromorphosis to denote the power of organisms, under the stimulus of outer conditions, to produce organs on parts of the organism where they do not occur normally, or the power to re- place lost parts by parts unsimilar to them. Regenera- tion is the reproduction of like parts. Heteromorpho- sis is the reproduction of unlike parts. "It one cuts off part of the stem of almost any plant, on placing the stem in suitable soil, roots will grow out, although roots are not natural to that part of the stem. The prothallus of fern produces the male and female organs on the lower side turned away from the light. If the prothallus be darkened on the upper 1 A»ii-riian Naturalist^ 1890, p. 85. % Natural Science ) 1894, p. 187. 456 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. surface, and illumined by reflected light on the lower surface, then the antheridia and archegonia will be produced on the upper surface. Galls are produced under the stimulus of the insect almost anywhere on the surface of the plant. Yet in most cases these galls, in a sense grown at random on the surface of a plant, when placed in damp earth will give rise to a young plant. In the hydroid, Tubularia mesembryanthemum, when the polyp-heads are cut off, new heads arise. But if both head and root be cut off, and the upper end be inserted in the mud, then from the original upper end not head-polyps, but root-filaments, will arise, while from the original lower end, not root-filaments, but head-polyps will grow. In Ciona intestinalis, round a slit cut into the body-wall, a tubular process grew out, forming a new mouth, while around the base of this, a series of eye-spots, corresponding to the eye-spots round the real mouth, appeared. In all these cases, it is plain that there were present in parts affected, the determinants, to use Weisrnann's term, not only of the * normal parts, but also of parts, which, under normal conditions, would never have appeared there ; and these new parts growing in the unwonted places bore the normal species-stamp as characteristically as sim- ilar parts grown in their normal places. It can hardly be supposed that the architecture of the germ-plasm contains special determinants to be ready for occur- rences so casual, especially as these are called into existence by circumstances quite foreign to the normal environment of the organisms. On the other hand, the facts are consonant with Hertwig's belief that, as all division is heirs-equal division, all the species- characters that depend upon cells are latent in every cell. HEREDITY. 457 "The experiments of Driesch, Wilson, and Hert- wig upon the early stages of developing ova show that heteromorphosis begins with the very earliest divisions of the egg. Thus Driesch, working upon echinoderm embryos, was able to flatten out the stage where there was a sphere of sixteen cells into a flat plate where all the cells were in the same plane. In such a plate, the nuclei of the cells occupied relative positions very dif- ferent from the normal conditions. Yet from these Driesch obtained normal plutei larvae. It was, in fact, as if the cells could be pushed about like billiard balls without destroying the future shape and characters of the embryo. Did each cell contain only the determi- nants that would correspond to the structures that would arise from it under normal conditions then change of its normal position would have arrested de- velopment. Each cell must, on the other hand, have contained the determinants for all the animal, and have allowed those to come into operation that were required by the new positions into which the cells were forced. Driesch, by separating the first two and the first four segmentation-spheres of an Echinus ovum, obtained two or four normal plutei, respectively one- half and a quarter of the normal size. Here again each sphere must have contained all the determinants for the whole organism. Heirs-equal division must have occurred. So, also, in the case of Amphioxus, Wilson obtained a normal, but proportionately dimin- ished, embryo with complete nervous system from a separated sphere of a two or four or eight- celled stage. "Hertwig himself, some years ago, published the results of experiments he made upon the development of frogs' eggs under abnormal conditions. He showed 458 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. that there could be no question of imperative divisions separating the germ-plasm into right and left halves, and so forth, but that the method of division was de- termined by pressures and relative gravities. Altera- tion of these made the ova divide into novel but sym- metrical forms. Chabry obtained normal embryos in cases where some of the segmentation-spheres had been artificially destroyed. "These cases all show that in its possibilities each segmentation-sphere is identical ; that as a result of heirs-equal division, each cell contains all the material necessary to cause the development of a complete em- bryo. Weismann would have to suppose that in all these cases, in addition to its half of the nuclear mat- ter resulting from heirs-equal division, it had also a stock of unaltered germ-plasm ready to be called into activity by unwonted stimuli. But even this hypothesis would not account for cells distorted by compression responding with the production of unwonted symme- tries." 6. OBJECTIONS TO THE DOCTRINE OF INHERITANCE OF ACQUIRED CHARACTERS. I will now mention some objections to the theory of epigenesis, or the inheritance of acquired charac- ters. Some of them appear at first to have consider- able force, but the explanations which have been of- fered seem to me to be sufficient. Weismann's merit consists in having directed at- tention to the isolation and continuity of the germ- plasma, factors which must be taken account of in any theory of inheritance. The continuity of reproductive function which this substance displays is a fact of great HEREDITY. 459 interest, and one which has given rise to the statement that it is under normal conditions, immortal. Isolation of the germ-plasma is however doubt- fully complete anywhere, and in the vegetable king- dom it scarcely exists. Most plants may be propa- gated either by roots, cuttings, bulbs, buds, or even by leaves. The germ-plasma is evidently as widely distributed in these multicellular organisms, as it is in a Protozoon. The greater degree of isolation exhib- ited by the higher animals is one of their many spe- cializations, but that it is not complete is shown by the facts already cited in the preceding pages. The con- tinuity of protoplasm in the organism is likely to be true of the germ-cells as of other cells ; and they are not deprived of nutrition, so that they are evidently accessible to influences from or through the soma. As regards the immortality of the Protozoon there is rea- son to believe, that like its descendent the germ-cell, it requires renewal from another cell to escape death. According to Maupas, the Protozoa after reproducing by self-division for many generations, require conju- gation, or they dwindle and die. The old formula that variation is due to "natural selection and heredity" has derived new life from the fact that sexual conjugation is necessary for the re- newal of the vitality of the ovarian cell. It is sup- posed by Weismann that variation as well as repro- ductive energy is introduced in this way, the process being termed by him Amphimixis. But like the old formula this explains nothing, for if the parents are the sources of variation, the question as to the source of the variation is simply relegated to the parents for answer. Moreover, Brooks, who made this suggestion prior to Weismann, points out that it has less force 460 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. than appears at first sight to belong to it. He shows1 that the ancestors of the individuals of a given species are in greater or less degree identical persons, and that they are on this account less numerous than has been sometimes assumed. Thus, if the population of a given district had for ten generations married first cousins, the total ancestry of each person for that period would number only thirty-eight persons. If, on the contrary, all the ancestors of each person had been distinct individuals, the total number of ances- tors in ten generations would be two thousand and forty-six persons. An investigation into the ancestry of three persons, not nearly related, living on an island on the Atlantic coast where the records are complete for seven and eight generations, shows that the ances- try of each of the three averages only three hundred and eighty-two persons. That this consideration is of even greater importance in estimating the ancestry of the lower animals than in man, is evident from the fact that no consideration of kinship modifies their re- productive habits. The fact that mutilations are not generally inherited is cited as evidence against the inheritance of acquired characters. A particular mutilation, however, as al- ready remarked, rarely happens more than once or twice in the lifetime of a single individual; in fact its occurrence more than once is, in many cases, as in amputations, impossible. Such sporadic events must necessarily have little influence as stimuli to the organ- ism, in comparison with the habitual movements of ani- mals, or the continued exposure to especial physical conditions, as is experienced by both plants and ani- mals, and are not worth considering in this connection. 1 Science, 1895, February, p. 121. HEREDITY. 461 One of the cases which is cited in opposition to the view here sustained, is the alleged fact that the artifi- cial contraction of the feet undergone by high-caste Chinese female children, resulting in deformity of the feet of the women, is not inherited. That this abnor- mality has never been transmitted has not yet been satisfactorily shown ; but in any case there are some reasons why it should not be inherited. One of these is, that the deformity is confined to one sex. The male, who is without it, has the advantage of an an- cestry possessing normal feet extending backwards indefinitely, while the modification of the female is a very modern interference with the law of the species. Moreover, a positive stimulus to ontogenetic growth, such as is in this instance furnished by the male, is always likely to be prepotent as compared with the negative part played by the female. Professor Poulton, whose interesting experiments in the production of color changes in lepidopterous larvae and pupae have been previously cited, states that none of the color varieties which he has obtained, have been inherited. I cannot regard this result as con- clusive until the experiments have been continued for a longer period than has yet been possible to devote to them. Perhaps the strongest case that can be made out against the theory of use-inheritance as defended in the present book, is that of the variety of structure displayed by the neuter members of the colonies of ants and termites. Mr. W. P. Ball describes these briefly as follows : l "But there happens to be a tolerably clear proof that such changes as the evolution of complicated 1 The Effects of Us? and Disuse, Nature Series, 1890, p. 24. 462 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. structures and habits and social instincts can take place independently of use-inheritance. The wonder- ful instincts of the working-bees have apparently been evolved (at least in all their later social complications and developments) without the aid of use-inheritance- nay, in spite of its utmost opposition. Working-bees, being infertile 'neuters,' cannot, as a rule, transmit their own modifications and habits. They are de- scended from countless generations of queen-bees and drones, whose habits have been widely different from those of the workers, and whose structures are dissim- ilar in various respects. In many species of ants there are two, and in the leaf-cutting ants of Brazil there are three, kinds of neuters which differ from each other and from their male and female ancestors 'to an al- most incredible degree.'1 The soldier caste is distin- guished from the workers by enormously large heads, very powerful mandibles, and extraordinarily different instincts. In the driver ant of West Africa one kind of neuter is three times the size of the other, and has jaws nearly five times as long. In another case, 'the workers of one caste alone carry a wonderful sort of shield on their heads.' One of the three neuter classes in the leaf-cutting ants has a single eye in the midst of its forehead. In certain Mexican and Australian ants 1 Origin of Species, pp. 230-232 ; Bates' s Naturalist an the Amazons. Dar- win is surprised that no one has hitherto advanced the demonstrative case of neuter insects against the well-known doctrine of inherited habit as advanced by Lamarck. As he justly remarks, "it proves that with animals, as with plants, any amount of modification may be effected by the accumulation of numerous slight, spontaneous variations, which are in any way profitable, L without exercise or habit having been brought into play. For peculiar habits^ confined to workers, however long they might be followed, could not possibly affect the males and fertile females, which alone leave any descendants." Some slight modification of these remarks, however, may possibly be needed I to meet the case of " factitious queens," who (probably through eating par- ticles of the royal food) become capable of producing a few male eggs, HEREDITY. 463 some of the neuters have high spherical abdomens, which serve as living reservoirs of honey for the use of the community. In the equally wonderful case of the termites, or so-called 'white ants' (which belong, how- ever, to an entirely different order of insects from the ants and bees), the neuters are blind and wingless, and are divided into soldiers and workers, each class possessing the requisite instincts and structures adapt- ing it for its tasks. Seeing that natural selection can form and maintain the various structures and the ex- ceedingly complicated instincts of ants and bees and wasps and termites in direct defiance of the alleged tendency to use-inheritance, surely we may believe that natural selection, unsupported by use-inheritance, is equally competent for the work of complex or social or mental evolution in the many cases where the strong presumptive evidence cannot be rendered almost in- disputable by the exceptional exclusion of the modified animal from the work of reproduction. "Ants and bees seem to be capable of altering their habits and methods of action much as men do. Bees taken to Australia cease to store honey after a few years' experience of the mild winters. Whole com- munities of bees sometimes take to theft, and live by plundering hives, first killing the queen to create dis- may among the workers. Slave ants attend devotedly to their captors and fight against their own species. Forel reared an artificial ant-colony made up of five different and more or less hostile species. Why can- not a much more intelligent animal modify his habits far more rapidly and comprehensively without the aid of a factor which is clearly unnecessary in the case of the more intelligent of the social insects." The explanation of this phenomenon will be prob- 464 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. ably some day found by paleontological discovery. We may suppose, on the basis of discoveries already made in other animals, that the primitive ants and termites presented homogeneous colonies, and that the varied structures which they present to-day have been primarily due to the usual process of specializa- tion through use-inheritance. It is necessary to sup- pose that the varied functions of the different members of the community have modified the structures of the parts essential to their performance. It is probable that the earliest ants in an early geologic period be- came soldiers under the usual exigencies of their strug- gle for existence, and having thus secured a place in the economy of nature, certain members of the com- munities underwent degenerative changes, appropriate to their respective functions, of a less exacting charac- acter. In a second stage of evolution the community would present the character of a family of varied forms all of whose members would produce any or all of the types of form to be found in it, under slight diversi- ties of conditions, just as now, all species produce young of two sexes. The differences between the members of an ant community are considerable in ap- pearance, but not so great essentially as that between sexes. Finally, in a third stage of the history, the func- tions of reproduction come to be the special office of a few members of the community. This may have been due to starvation, or to excessive labor on the part of certain individuals aborting the reproductive powers; but whatever may have been the cause, a majority of individuals became sterile. The repro- ducing members of the community, however, have continued to produce all the forms of the community. HEREDITY. 465 They produce sterile workers and soldiers, sometimes of several forms, although themselves unlike most of their progeny. "This," says Mr. Ball, "is evidence that inheritance can have no share in the process." He believes that each one of the structural types of the community is produced by the treatment accorded to the young by the workers, each generation for itself. As we have seen that the embryonic and paleonto- logic histories distinctly negative the idea that each generation has been produced by itself without inheri- tance, let us endeavor to read the riddle in the light of the knowledge we have gained from paleontology. I assume that the most specialized types, the soldiers, represent the type of the species in Mesozoic and pos- sibly earlier time. They are already known from early Cenozoic formations (Scudder). The process of change into workers and breeders has been degenerative. I suppose, however, that in ants, as in the case of many other animals, slight differences in the supply of nutri- tive energy will prevent or produce these degenerative processes, as it appears to do in the case of the pro- duction of the sexes. (Experiments on lepidopterous larvae have shown that excessive food supply produces females, and deficient supply produces males). In bees the larvae of the female (queen) receives the larg- est food supply ; those of the males less ; and those of the neuters the least of all. How the food supply came to be varied so as to produce the several types in accordance with the exigencies of the community, is a question to be solved by future research. Perhaps it was due to variations in the supplies available at particular times of the year ; and perhaps the ants ul- timately learned the secret, and now practice it intelli- gently. It is enough for my present purpose to have 466 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. shown that the basis of the entire community, the most specialized form, the original fertile soldier, acquired his characters in the usual way, by use, and that all other forms have been derived from him by inheritance modified by disuse, or degeneracy, under the influence of variations in the food supply. This reply to Mr. Ball's argument was made by me at a meeting of the Philadelphia Academy of Nat- ural Sciences on May 23, 1893. In the latter part of the same year an almost identical answer was pub- lished by Herbert Spencer. My remarks were not pub- lished until the end of the year. Mr. A. R. Wallace1 presents the fact of change of character under external stimulus as evidence of the non-inheritance of acquired characters. Thus he cites the cases of change of species of Artemia, in conse- quence of increased salinity of water (antea, p. 229) ; and of the change of color of a Texan Saturnia, when its normal food-plant Juglans nigra was replaced by J. regia. Under the new conditions the old characters were not continued. In the same way the appearance of all new characters might be assumed to prove non- inheritance of the old ones. The obvious interpretation of these facts is the one generally given them ; that, is, they demonstrate the superior potency of certain new stimuli over the inherited type of growth- energy. They demonstrate that the energy of inheritance is not un- changeable in its type, which is the condition of the possibility of evolution. They do not demonstrate that acquired characters cannot be inherited. Objections have been made to the supposition that the simian characters of the lower human races are due to inheritance because it has been shown that l-Xaturs, 1893, p. 267. HEREDITY. 467 some of them are due to mechanical causes acting after birth. The demonstration of the mechanical origin of a given peculiarity, however, by no means precludes that such peculiarity may not be an inheritance from or reversion to pithecoid ancestors. It has been al- ready pointed out that all of the form characters of the vertebrate skeleton, and for that matter, of the hard parts of all animals, have been produced by mus- cular pressures and contractions, and the friction, strains, and impacts, due to these. The demonstra- tions by Virchow and others that such is the origin of the platycnemic human tibia, is directly in the line of Neo-Lamarckian evolutionary doctrine, and shows us that atavistic and reversionary characters are found in the muscular system as well as in the skeleton. Such characters are inheritable as well as those of the skel- eton. But the characters of the skeleton can generally be shown to be inherited, because they appear before birth, and are found at some stage or another of foetal life. The later appearance of the muscular structures in the ontogeny, is simply a case of caenogeny, where the record has been falsified by retardation of the parts in question. The variations in the characters of the human skel- eton are of very various significance and value, and the zoologist and paleontologist can perceive that they are sometimes misinterpreted by archeologists. Thus the presence of wormian (Inca) bones, and of a per- foration of the olecranar fossa, have no zoological value ; while the prognathous jaws, tritubercular mo- lar, and platycnemic tibia have such a value. The tufted hair of the negro has a human value only, as it does not occur in any of the Quadrumana. But arche- 468 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUJ^ION. ologists who are not zoologists are not careful to point out these distinctions. If the platycnemic tibia has been produced by mus- cular pressure in man, it has been probably so pro- duced in the apes, where it is a universal character. If the early fusion of the sagittal suture is produced by the vigorous contractions of the temporal muscle as suggested by Brinton, in the black race, due to prognathous jaws, this is probably why it is a universal character of the apes, where the jaws are still more prognathous. What may be the cause of prognathism is not explained by archeologists, but has been dis- cussed in my book on the Origin of the Fittest, and by Dr. C. S. Minot. That the prognathous jaws and platycnemic tibia are not found in the foetus by no means proves that they are not inherited characters. Besides the fact already mentioned, that we are by this only thrown back on an inherited muscular struc- ture, it is further to be remarked that characters which indicate the evanescence or degeneracy of parts, do not usually appear in the foetus, but are disclosed at later stages. The prognathous jaws are disappearing from the higher races, and the process of disappear- ance is in this point accomplished by a retention of the foetal face, which is excessively orthognathous. Prognathism is characteristic of most of the lower Mammalia, and whenever man displays it, if he be, as evolutionists believe, descended from some other mam- mal, he is simply continuing to develop the old char- acter in the old manner. The same reasoning applies to the platycnemic tibia and the tritubercular molar. As regards the lemurine character of the trituber- cular molar, the term is a good one, as indicating the nearest of kin to man which present such molars. But HEREDITY. 469 this type can with equal propriety be called, as I have shown, the primitive placental molar. The lemur is the highest form next to man which displays it, but it was universal among the placentals at one geological epoch. It is possible that Topinard's suggestion as to the cause of its appearance in man is the correct one, as I made the same many years before,_but that does not affect its value as an evidence of reversion, as in the cases already cited. There are various other ways in which molar teeth may degenerate, besides reversion to trituberculy, with which dentists are fa- miliar, and which may be explained as Topinard and I have done ; i. e., by change of food ; but why the regular and normal mode should be trituberculy, and not one of those other modes, requires additional ex- planation. This explanation is that a regular or nor- mal retrogressive modification of a structure is likely to be a return on the line by which it advanced. This is atavism or reversion. That the anthropoids have been directly derived by descent from the false lemurs rather than from the Old World monkeys (Cercopithecidse) is probable for various reasons which I have pointed out on page 157. I mention now that this view is somewhat confirmed by the recent discovery by Forsyth-Major, in Mada- gascar, in beds of Plistocene age, of a skull of a new genus of Lemuridae with tritubercular molars, whose single species is nearly as large as a chimpanzee. In closing these remarks, I call attention to the frequent muscular and occasional cerebral anomalies found in the negro, which are of simian character, and which indicate simian descent. An excellent synopsis of these has been given by Dr. Frank Baker in his address at Cleveland in 1888 as Vice-President of the 470 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. American Association for the Advancement of Science, and by Prof. H. F. Osborn in 1891 in the Cartwright lecture before the New York College of Physicians. It is evident that evolutionists are reaching greater harmony of opinion on the question of inheritance. In fact, the discussion is sometimes a logomachy de- pendent on the significance which one attaches to the term "acquired characters." Thus Von Rath1 re- marks : "There is nothing in the way of the opinion that by the continued working of such external in- fluences and stimuli the molecular structure of the germ-plasma also experiences a change which can lead to a transmission of transformations. Above all, it ought not to be forgotten in this case that the somatic cells are in no way the first to be modified by the stim- ulus, and that then by some sort of unexplained pro- cess (pangenesis or intracellular pangenesis), this stimulus is transmitted gradually by these cells to the plasma of the germ-cells. The influence on the germ- plasm is rather a direct one, and if by continued in- fluence a transformation of the structure of this plasm takes place and transmission occurs, we have then simply a transmission of blastogenic, and by no means of somatogenic characters, and therein is not the slightest admission of the transmission of acquired characters. " This paragraph contains an admission of the doc- trine of diplogenesis, and does not regard the phe- nomena as including a transmission of acquired char- acters. Nevertheless the stimuli traverse the soma in order to reach the germ-plasma. Such an energy is evidently then not of blastogenic origin, although it is \Berichte dcr naturforschenden Gcsellschaft zu Freiburg in Baden, Bd.VI., Heft 3. HEREDITY. 471 such in its effects. Moreover, Von Rath omits to men- tion the fact that in traversing the soma, the stimulus, frequently, if not always, produces effects on the latter similar to those which it produces on the germ-plasma. I should call this process the inheritance of an acquired character, even in the case where no corresponding modification appears in the soma, since the causative energy is acquired by the soma and is not derived from the existing germ-plasma. Romanes1 says, in reviewing the opinions of Weis- niann : "(i) Germ-plasm ceases to be continuous in the sense of having borne a perpetual record of con- genital variations from the first origin of sexual propa- gation. (2) On the contrary, as all such variations have been originated by the direct action of external conditions [italics mine], the continuity of the germ-plasm in this sense has been interrupted at the commencement of every inherited change during the phylogeny of all plants and animals, unicellular as well as multicellular. (3) But germ-plasm remains continuous in the re- stricted though highly important sense of being the sole repository of hereditary characters of each succes- sive generation, so that acquired characters can never have been transmitted to progeny 'representatively,' even though they have frequently caused those 'spe- cialized' changes in the structure of germ-plasm, which as we have seen, must certainly have been of con- siderable importance in the history of organic evolu- tion." Here the inheritance of characters acquired by the soma is admitted, and the process is after the method of diplogenesis. According to Romanes, Galton origin- lAn Examination of IVeisni aiinisin, Chicago, 1893, p. 169. 472 PR 1 MAR Y FA CTORS OF ORGANIC E VOL UT20N. ally propounded this doctrine. Galton's language1 is as follows : "It is said that the structure of an animal changes when he is placed under changed conditions; that his offspring inherit some of his change ; and that they vary still further on their own account, in the same direction, and so on through successive generations until a notable change in the congenital characteristics of the race has been effected. Hence, it is concluded that a change in the personal structure has reacted on the sexual elements. For my part, I object to so gen- eral a conclusion, for the following reasons. It is universally admitted that the primary agents in the processes of growth, nutrition, and reproduction, are the same, and that a true theory of heredity must so regard them. In other words, they are all due to the development of some germinal matter, variously lo- cated. Consequently, when similar germinal matter is everywhere affected by the same conditions, we should expect that it would be everywhere affected in the same way. The particular kind of germ whence the hair sprang, that was induced to throw out a new variety in the cells nearest to the surface of the body under certain changed conditions of climate and food, might be expected to throw out a similar variety in the sexual elements at the same time. The changes in the germs would everywhere be collateral, although the movements where any of the changed germs hap- pen to receive their development might be different." This is the first statement of the doctrine of diplo- genesis with which I have met, and it appears to fur- nish the most rational basis for the investigation into the dynamics of the process. 1 Contemporary Review, 1875, pp. 343-344; Proc. Royal Society, 1872, No. 136. CHAPTER IX.— THE ENERGY OF EVOLUTION. IF we view the phenomena of organic life from the standpoint of the physicist, the first question that naturally arises in the mind is as to the kind of energy of which it is an exhibition. Ordinary observation shows that organic bodies perform molar movements, and that many of them give out heat. A smaller num- ber exhibit emanations of light and electricity. Very little consideration is sufficient to show that they in- clude among their functions chemical reactions, a con- viction which is abundantly sustained by researches into the physiology of both animals and plants. The phenomena of growth are also evidently exhibitions of energy. The term energy is used to express the mo- tion of matter, and the building of an embryo to ma- turity is evidently accomplished by the movement of matter in certain definite directions. The energy which accomplishes this feat is, however, none of those which characterize inorganic matter, some of which have just been mentioned, but, judging from its phenomena, is of a widely different character. If we further take a broad view of the general process of progressive evo- lution, which is accomplished by successive modifica- tions of this growth-energy, we see further reason for 474 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. distinguishing it widely from the inorganic energies. In considering the dynamics of organic evolution, it will be convenient to commence by considering the claims of natural selection to include the energy which underlies the process. That natural selection cannot be the cause of the origin of new characters, or varia- tion, was asserted by Darwin ;l and this opinion is supported by the following1 weighty considerations : 1. A selection cannot be the cause of those alterna- tives from which it selects. The alternatives must be presented before the selection can commence. 2. Since the number of variations possible to or- ganisms is very great, the probability of the admirably adaptive structures which characterize the latter hav- ing arisen by chance, is extremely small. 3. In order that a variation of structure shall sur- vive, it is necessary that it shall appear simultaneously in two individuals of opposite sex. But if the chance of its appearing in one individual is very small, the chance of its appearing in two individuals is very much smaller. But even this concurrence of chances would not be sufficient to secure its survival, since it would be immediately bred out by the immensely preponder- ant number of individuals which should not possess the variation. 4. Finally, the characters which define the organic types, so far as they are disclosed by paleontology, have commenced as minute buds or rudiments, of no value whatever in the struggle for existence. Natural selection can only effect the survival of characters when they have attained some functional value. In order to secure the survival of a new character, that is, of a new type of organism, it is necessary that 1 Origin of Species, Ed. 1872, p. 65. THE ENERGY OF EVOLUTION. 475 the variation should appear in a large number of indi- viduals coincidentally and successively. It is exceed- ingly probable that that is what has occurred in past geologic ages. We are thus led to look for a cause which affects equally many individuals at the same time, and continuously. Such causes are found in the changing physical conditions that have succeeded each other in the past history of our planet, and the changes of organic function necessarily produced thereby. i. ANAGENESIS. It is customary to distinguish broadly between in- organic and organic energies, as those which are dis- played by non-living and living bodies. This classifi- cation is inexact, since, as already remarked, nearly all of the inorganic energies are exhibited by living beings. A division which appears to be, with our present knowledge, much more fundamental, is into the energies which tend away from, and those which tend toward, the phenomena of life. In other words, those which are not necessarily phenomena of life, and those which are necessarily such. And the phenom- ena of life here referred to are the phenomena of growth and evolution, as distinguished from all others. I have termed 1 these classes the Anagenetic, which are ex- clusively vital, and the Catagenetic, which are phys- ical and chemical. The anagenetic class tends to up- ward progress in the organic sense ; that is, toward the increasing control of its environment by the organ- ism, and toward the progressive development of con- sciousness and mind. The catagenetic energies tend to the creation of a stable equilibrium of matter, in 1 The Monist, Chicago, 1893, p. 630. 476 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. which molar motion is not produced from within, and sensation is impossible. In popular language the one class of energies tends to life ; the other to death. Herbert Spencer has defined evolution as a process of ' < integration of matter and dissipation of motion "; * "the absorption of motion and the diffusion of matter'3 he terms dissolution. If by evolution Mr. Spencer referred only to that of inorganic bodies and masses, his definition must be accepted; but the evolution of organic bodies, since it has proceeded in a direction the opposite of the inorganic, cannot be so character- ized. Organic evolution has passed beyond the do- main of the inorganic, and the terms applicable to the latter process cannot be correctly applied to the former. In organic anagenesis there is absorption of energy; dissipation of energy is only known in the functioning of organic structures, which is catagenetic ; not in their progressive evolution, which is anagenetic. Huxley, in a lecture delivered in 1854,2 remarks : "Tendency to equilibrium of force and permanency of form then are the characters of that portion of the universe which does not live, the domain of the chem- ist and the physicist. Tendency to disturb existing equilibriums, to take on forms which succeed one another in definite cycles, is the character of the living world." In the letter to Professor Tyndall, prefatory to the volume Lay Sermons and Addresses, in which this essay appeared, Huxley says- "The oldest essay of the whole, that on ' The Educational Value of the Natural History Sciences,' contains a view of the dif- ferences between living and not-living bodies, which I have long since outgrown." Whatever might have 1 First Principles, ed. II., 1873, p. 542. t-Lay Scrinor.s and Addresses, 1880, p. 75. THE ENERGY OF EVOLUTION. 477 been the cause of this change of opinion in Huxley's mind, the cause which has produced a similar change in the minds of many men, has been the discovery of means of producing in the laboratory numerous organic compounds, which, it had been previously supposed, could not be produced excepting through the action of living things, vegetable and animal. But it has been shown that all of these substances are the result of the running down of protoplasm, and are, hence, catage- netic, and not anagenetic. That the catagenetic energies, whether physical or chemical, tend away from life is clear enough. Thus molar motion, unless continuously supplied, or directed by a living source, speedily ceases, being converted by friction into heat, which is dissipated. The same is true of molecular movements, under the same con- ditions. Chemical reactions, which are fundamental in world-building, result in the production of solids and the radiation of heat. This is the general result, although in the process, as it occurs in nature, irregu- larities occur, owing to local and temporary elevation of temperature. This arises from the decomposition of organic substances, which liberates heat ; the oxy- dization of carbon, which owes its position as a ter- restrial element to vegetable and animal organisms ; and the access of heat from the interior of the earth, or from the sun's rays. Finally cosmic creation in- volves the perpetual radiation of heat into space, and the gradual reduction of all forms of matter to the solid state. The endothermic chemical reaction, where inor- ganic matter undergoes a change of molecular aggre- gation the reverse of that just mentioned, with the ab- sorption of heat, as in the case of several nitrogen 478 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. compounds, is rare in nature, where free from organic complications, and is necessarily soon reversed by further reactions. In the anagenetic energies, on the other hand, we have a process of building machines, wThich not only resist the action of catagenesis, but which press the catagenetic energies into their service. In the assimi- lation of inorganic substances they elevate them into higher, that is more complex compounds, and raise the types of energy to their own level. In the devel- opment of molar movements they enable their organ- isms to escape many of the destructive effects of cat- agenetic energy, by enabling them to change their environment; and this is especially true in so far as sen- sation or consciousness is present to them. The ana- genetic energy transforms the face of nature by its power of assimilating and recompounding inorganic matter, and by its capacity for multiplying its individ- uals. In spite of the mechanical destructibility of its physical basis (protoplasm), and the ease with which its mechanisms are destroyed, it successfully resists, controls, and remodels the catagenetic energies for its purposes. The anagenetic power of assimilation of the inor- ganic substances is chiefly seen in the vegetable king- dom. Atmospheric air, water, and inorganic salts furnish it with the materials of its physical basis. Then from its own protoplasm it elaborates by a catagenetic retrograde metamorphosis, the non-nitrogenous sub- stances, as wood (cellulose), waxes, and oils, and the nitrogenous alkaloids, and it may take up inorganic substances and deposit them without alteration in its cells. Many of the compounds elaborated by plants and animals have been manufactured of latter time by THE ENERGY OF EVOLUTION. 479 chemists. The discovery that the living organism is not necessary for the production of these substances has led to the hasty conclusion that the supposed dis- tinction between "organic" and "inorganic" energy does not exist. But the elaboration of these substances is not accomplished by anagenetic or "vital" energy, but by a process of running down of the higher com- pound protoplasm, which is catagenesis. No truly anagenetic process has yet been imitated by man. All forms of functioning of organs, except assimi- lation, reproduction, and growth, are catagenetic. That is, functioning consists in the retrograde metamorpho- sis of a nitrogenous organic substance or proteid with the setting free of energy. The proteid is decomposed in the functioning tissue into carbon dioxide, water, urea, etc., and energy appears in the muscle as con- traction, in the glands as secretion, and in all parts of the body as heat. The general result of physiologic research is, that the decomposition of the blood is the source of energy, while the tissue of each organ deter- mines the character of that energy. That the tissue itself suffers from wear, and requires repair, is also true, but to a less extent than was once supposed. In the anagenetic process of the growth of the em- bryo the case is different. Here the processes of func- tioning of organs are in complete abeyance, the plasma of the oosperm is not sensibly broken down in chemical decomposition, but it is in great part elaborated into tissues and organs. All the mechanisms necessary to the mature life of the individual are constructed by the activity of the special form of energy known as growth- energy or Bathmism. It is the modifications of this energy which constitute evolution, and it is these to which we will hereafter direct our attention. Its sim- i 480 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. plest exhibition is the subdivision of a unicellular pro- toplasmic body into two or more individuals or struc- tural units of a multicellular organism. Further divi- sion of the latter does not abolish the individual, but extends it, and we now observe the elaboration of dif- ferent structural types to become the conspicuous func- tion of this form of energy. In other words, a once simple energy becomes specialized into specific ener- gies, each of which, once established, pursues its mode of motion in opposition to all other modes not more potent than itself. Besides the evident truth of the proposition that a mode of building is a mode of mo- tion, we have another very good reason for believing in the existence of a class of bathmic or growth-ener- gies. This is found in the phenomena of heredity. The most rational conception of this inheritance of structural characters is the transmission of a mode of motion from the soma to the germ-cells. This is a far more conceivable method than that of the transmis- sion of particles of matter, other than the ordinary ma- terial of nutrition. The bathmic theory of heredity bears about the same relation to a theory of transmis- sion of the pangenes of Darwin, or the ids of Weis- mann, as the undulatory theory of light and other forms of radiant energy does to the molecular theory of Newton. I have therefore assumed as a working hypothesis the existence of the bathmic energy, and have inquired how far the facts in our possession sus- tain it. In doing so it has been necessary to elaborate the theory so as to render clearer its application to spe- cific cases. The fact to be accounted for is its spe- cialization into so many diverse specific forms. A further indication of the existence of the bathmic energy is the quantitative limitation to which growth THE ENER GY OF E VOL UTION. 481 is obedient. Thus the successive stages of embryonic growth are limited in number in each species. The dimensions of most species are limited within a def- inite range. The duration of life, or of the functioning organic machine, has a definite limit in time. All this means that a certain limited quantity of energy is at the disposal of each individual organism. In the preceding pages I have endeavored to show what causes have been and are efficient in the produc- tion of different types of organic life, through the modifications of the bathmic energy. We will now briefly consider the question of the origin of the living substance, protoplasm or sarcode, which exhibits bath- mism. On this subject Professor Manly Miles remarks i1 "Omitting subordinate details, which represent the separate links in the chain of events, the processes of nutrition may be summarized in general terms as fol- lows : In plants the chemical elements and binary com- pound on which they feed, are built up by successive steps of increasing complexity and instability into pro- toplasm, with a storing of the energy made use of in the constructive process, which is derived from the heat and light of the sun. The constructive processes are expressed by the term anabolism, and the products of the different upward steps are called anastatic. Pro- toplasm, the most complex and unstable of organic substances, is the summit of the ascending steps of anabolism ; and katabolism, which represents the suc- ceeding downward steps of metabolism, then follows, and its products or katastates are starch, cellulose, proteids, etc., or what we recognize as the proximate \Proceeds. Amer Assoc, Adv. Sci., 1892, p. 203. 482 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. constituents and tissues of plants." I interject here the remark, that from a chemical point of view, pro- toplasm is, under certain conditions, not unstable. If the tendency of the catagenetic energies is away from vital phenomena, it is impossible that they, or any of them, should be the cause of the origin of liv- ing matter. This logical inference is confirmed by the failure of all attempts to demonstrate spontaneous gen- eration of living organisms from inorganic matter. Further, the principle of continuity leads us to infer that the energy which produced organic matter must be identical with or allied to that which is the efficient agent in progressive evolution of organisms, and is, therefore, anagenetic. Such a conclusion may seem to lead to a dualism which is itself opposed to the principle of continuity or uniformity, and which is op- posed to experience of the phenomena of energy in general. How is uniformity to be harmonized with the hypothesis of two types of energy acting in differ- ent directions, apparently in opposition to each other? Since facts and logic do not support the derivation of the anagenetic from the inorganic energies, can the re- verse process, the derivation of the catagenetic from the anagenetic be and have been the order of nature? In support of this hypothesis, we have the universal prevalence of the retrograde metamorphosis of energy in both the inorganic and organic kingdoms. Phe- nomena of structural degeneracy are well known in the organic world, and purely chemical phenomena in both organic and inorganic processes are all degenerate. It appears, then, much more probable that catagenesis succeeds anagenesis as a consequence, and does not precede it as a cause. In other words, it is more THE ENER GY OF E VOL UTION. 483 probable that death is a consequence of life, rather than that the living is a product of the non-living. I have therefore given to that energy which is displayed by the plant in the elaboration of living from non-living matter the name of antichemism.1 Thus, while the heat of the sun is necessary to the building of proto- plasm, within a certain range of temperature this form of energy has its opportunity. The actual demonstration of this hypothesis can only come from researches into the thermochemistry of proteids and protoplasm. As these substances have not been made in the laboratory, these researches are not yet possible. We may, however, consider the problem as follows. In the process of making pro- toplasm, three gases, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen are converted into a semisolid. In this case heat should be dissipated, to an amount reduced by the molecular dissolution of carbon. This is however not the case, for heat is absorbed with an integration of atomic bonds. In other words, it would seem that the manufacture of protoplasm by plants is an endo- thermic process. This view is strengthened by the dis- covery by Berthollet2 that the production of numerous solid organic substances, in which organic bases are used, is also endothermic. These facts confirm the in- ference above recited, that the phenomena of organic growth involve the absorption of energy and not its dissipation. Referring to the composition of protoplasm C OH JV, I have called attention to the fact that each of its elements represents one of the great divisions defined ^American Naturalist, 1884, p. 979; Origin of the Fittest, 1887, p, 431. lAnnales de Chimie et de r/ijsit/ue, VI, 1895, p. 232. 484 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. by their valency, into which the ultimate substances of nature naturally fall. This combination I have sug- gested might account for the chemical inertness of protoplasm, through the mutual inhibition which each of these elements might be supposed to exercise over the other, owing to the diversity of their modes of chemical action. In order to present more clearly the views enun- ciated in the preceding pages, I give a synoptic table of energies. I. Anagenetic Organic II. Catagenetic Exclusively- organic Inorganic and organic [ Antichemism Bathmism f Neurism [ Myism Radiant Energy Chemism Cohesion Gravitation 2. BATHMOGENESIS. The innumerable structures which are due to the activity of bathmisms may be supposed to result from the composition of the inherited form with energies which are derived from sources external to the germ- plasma, whether within the soma or external to it. These interferences produce new and specific types of energy. The inherited bathmism I have termed "sim- ple growth force, " and the modified forms I have termed < < grade growth force. " 1 It appears that these types of energy should be distinguished by special names. Hence I have proposed to restrict the term bathmism 1 Proceedings American Philosophical Society, 1871, p. 253. THE ENERGY OF EVOLUTION. 485 to the modified or "grade" growth force, and to term the inherited or "simple" type of growth force, em- phytism.1 As a matter of fact, pure emphytism can only be observed in the embryos of sexless or parthe- nogenetic origin, and in the repair of tissues. Ryder has called the exhibition of growth-energy ergogenesis, and he calls attention to the fact that it appears under two aspects. In the first, ergogenesis is due to mechanical causes resident in the organism exclusively, and consists of the physical tensions in- herent in protoplasm under all the conditions of growth. With these the growth-energies have to reckon, as they are the conditions which underlie them. They are not, however, strictly speaking, growth- energies, but would be exhibited by any similar col- loid under similar conditions. To the movements due to physical causes under these circumstances, Ryder gives the name of Statogenesis.2 The second aspect of the energies necessary to growth is present under the two forms already referred to, as emphytism and bathmism. The latter class, or interference energies, are naturally differentiated into those which are due to physical (or chemical) external agencies (molecular movements), and those that are due to molar move- ments as expressed in tissues, as impact, strain, etc. To the former I have given the name of physiobath- mism, to the latter, kinetobathmism.3 The relations of these forms of energy may be rep- resented in tabular form as follows : II have supposed in a late paper [American Naturalist, 1894, p. 212) that this is the statogenic energy of Ryder. This mistake has been corrected. 2 Proceedings American Philosophical Society, 1893, p. 194. ^American Naturalist, 1894, p. 214. The two types of growth are then physiogenesis and kinetogenesis. [Origin of the Fittest, 1887, p. 423.) 486 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. Ergogenesis Catagenetic Statogenesis Anagenetic ' Inherited Emphytogenesis With inter- r Molecular ference Bathmogenesis I Physiogenesis Molar Kinetogenesis Emphytogenesis I shall hereafter endeavor to show is an automatic (catagenetic) product of bathmogen- esis, and a stationary factor in evolution. The above table is designed to be a classification and formulation of the innumerable well-known facts of organic growth and evolution. It does not pre- tend to be an explanation of the processes involved, but it is the first step to be taken in attempting the explanation, i. e. a discrimination and classification of its factors. Ryder thus expressed the relation between stato- genesis and kinetogenesis.1 "So universal is this interference of the statical conditions of the plasma of segmenting ova with the ontogenetic processes, that not a single metazoan or- ganism can be named, the development of which is not thus marred in some way or other. It is often a long time relatively after development has begun that there is any obvious delineation of the embryo. In fact, this cannot take place until the statical energies of surface-tension which have kept the egg globular are overridden. In so far as the ontogeny of any organ- ism is marred by statical conditions of energy- display, its embryonic form is also modified. In so far as such statical interference affects the figure of the organism they are morphogenetic or form-determining. In so far the figure of a developing being is disturbed or ^■Proceeds. Amer. Philos. Society, 1893, pp. 197-201. THE ENER GY OF E VOL UTION. 487 modified by statical agencies its figure may be said to be subject to statogenetic influences. No existing larval form has escaped the influence upon its own shape of a constantly active statical equilibrium of its own substance. There is, therefore, a constant strug- gle going on during development between the phylo- genetic and ontogenetic forces, determining the se- quence and relations of the successive cleavages of the egg and the statical equilibria that obtain amongst its several parts. Statogenetic processes are, therefore, as constant and universal as the phylogenetic and onto- genetic. One may even go so far as to say that possi- bly the relations thus tending to be established by statical conditions may tend to become transmissible as hereditary tendencies. Such indeed is the view up- held by Prof. E. B. Wilson in his remarkable paper on 1 The Cell-Lineage of Nereis.' I have myself seen no less than three consecutive recurrences of the same statical conditions in a fish egg, none of which can, for this reason, be definitely proved to be purely onto- genetic. ''While such phenomena as those of the genesis of the heterocercal or upwardly deflected condition of the axis in the tails of fishes, or the downwardly de- flected condition of the axis in Ichthyosauri are almost purely kinetogenetic, the multiplicity of factors con- cerned, statogenetic as well as ontogenetic and phylo- genetic, must always be considered and each given its due weight and importance in achieving the morpho- genetic result. That there is an absolute conflict be- tween statogeny and kinetogeny on the one hand, and of phylogeny and ontogeny on the other, in the case of the development of the ova of multicellular forms ■-, admits of no doubt. All metazoa pass through larval J 488 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. stages in which the statical conditions of equilibrium of the plasma of the egg is gradually, in a great meas- ure, overriden by the hereditary energies represented by phylogeny and ontogeny. That there still remain traces of the effects of kinetogeny and statogeny in the adult organism cannot be denied in view of the facts to be derived from the shapes of tissue elements, and even of organs, as the foregoing paragraphs show." The first appearance of bathmogenetic action is the first modification of the statogenetic and emphytogen- etic energies from whatever source. Changes may be effected in the weight, color, and in functional capacity by temperature, humidity, food, etc., thus exhibiting physiogenesis. Or changes in the size and forms of parts of the body may be produced by movements of the organism, or of its environment, so displaying ki- netogenesis. So long as these modifications of struc- ture should be confined to the individuals thus modi- fied, there would be no evolution. A second genera- tion, if not subjected to the same stimuli, would not possess the modifications ; and their possession of them would depend entirely on the amount of stimulus. In other words, there would be no accumulation of modi- fication. It has, however, been generally believed that these modifications are inherited, and I think it has been shown that this belief rests on a solid basis. Mean- while I have called the bathmogenesis which does not extend beyond the generation in which it appears, autobathmogeny. The quantitative relation which necessarily exists between bathmism and its sources may be expressed as follows, with due recognition of the fact that such expression does not rest upon any experimental tests. Emphytogenesis is work done in the construction of THE ENERGY OF EVOLUTION. 489 tissues like those of the parent and without interfer- ence. Here we have the molecular energy of the par- ent converted into the molar movements observed to be concomitants of segmentation ; to be represented in the completed tissue by the mutual tensions by vir- tue of which each structural element maintains its in- tegrity. It is evidently a process of metamorphosis of energy in which there is less waste than in any other known to us. Embryonic growth is accompanied by a very slight dissipation of heat, since a slight rise of temperature is noticeable in the eggs of cold-blooded animals and in flowers, when reproduction is active. The products of breaking down are equally rare in embryonic growth, and both this and the dissipation of heat are perhaps largely due to the changes wrought in non-cleavable nutritive substances with which the yolks are sometimes charged. It is probably to ac- complish this process that the ox}^gen necessary for the embryonic growth is used. How much loss is due to cell-division itself is not known, but it must be very little if any. We have probably here a nearly perfect conversion of energy. Theoretically we have ana- genesis wherever the up-building exceeds the down- breaking. The attempt to realize in the imagination the modus operandi of bathmic energy in embryo-building takes the following form. It is to be supposed that movement which has been most frequently repeated, and for the longest period, is prepotent, and takes precedence of all others. This is clearly simple cell- division, which follows the nutrition supplied by the spermatozoon, and which represents the first act of animal life. Hence, segmentation of the oosperm is the first movement of bathmism. Each subsequent 490 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. movement appears in the order of potency, which is, other things being equal, a time order, or the order of record. The cause of the localization of tissues and structures is much more difficult to understand than the cause of the order of their appearance. The more energetic part of the process naturally requires the greater space for its products. The ectoderm, which becomes the seat of the nervous axis and its muscular adjuncts, occupies the superficial portions of the yolk. Hence, we may regard this expression of the struc- tural record of these functions as more energetic than that of the record-structure of the nutritive functions, which displays itself below the ectoderm. In mero- blastic and amphiblastic embryos, the segmentation which develops the nutritive tissues is evidently more sluggish, for the cells are larger and fewer in number than those of the ectoderm. In evolution external stimuli modify the course of emphytogeny above described, and by producing new structural records, cause a new form of energy, due to composition of the new with the old, and the process of growth then becomes bathmogeny. The external stimuli are molecular or molar, determining physio- bathmism or kinetobathmism. The effect of motion or use on the soma may be conveniently termed autokinetogenesis. Moderate use of a muscle is known to increase its size. Irritation of the periosteum is known to cause deposit of bone. Friction and pressure of the epithelium increases its quantity or changes its form. Increased activity of the functions of nervous tissues increases their relative proportions, as in the enlargement of nerves which re- place others which are interrupted by mutilations, etc. THE EATER G Y OF E I 'OL UTIOM. 49 1 On the other hand, it is equally well known that disuse produces diminution of muscular tissues, and through it, a reduction in the quantity of the harder tissue (bone, chitin, etc.) to which it is attached (as muscu- lar insertions, etc.). It was the observation of such well-known phenomena as these that led Lamarck to advance his doctrine of evolution under use and dis- use, and which has led many others to give their ad- herence to such a view. Thus much for cell-growth. Another class of mod- ifications of a similar kind may be found in the parts of an organism which consist of a complex of cells, or tissues. Thus the lumen of a small artery is enlarged under the influence of pressure when it is compelled to assume the function of a larger vessel through the interruption of the latter. A part of an internal or external skeleton which is fractured will form an arti- ficial joint at the point of fracture, if the adjacent sur- faces are kept in motion. Marey (Animal Mechanism, pp. 88-89) says, "After dislocations the old articular cavities will be filled up and disappear, while at the new point where the head of the bone is actually placed, a fresh articulation is formed, to which nothing will be wanting in the course of a few months, neither articu- lar cartilages, synovial fluid, nor the ligaments to re- tain the bone in place." I have given some illustra- tions of this fact,1 which have come under my observa- tion, and which have an important bearing on the origin of the articulations of the vertebrate skeleton as I have traced them throughout geological time. I have, as I think, conclusively shown that these varied structures have been produced by impacts and strains, iPage 275 and Proceeds. Amer. Philos. Soc, 1892, p. 285. 492 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. which are concomitants of the movements of the ani- mals, acting through long periods of time.1 The term mnemogenesis is employed by Professor Hyatt2 to characterize the manner in which kinetogen- esis is supposed to produce results in inheritance. I have suggested that the phenomena of recapitulation, characteristic of ontogeny {American Naturalist, Dec, 1889), are due to the presence of a record in the germ cells, having a molecular basis similar to that of mem- ory. This view is adopted by Professor Hyatt. I have already referred to it in the preceding pages. A general statement of this doctrine was made by Mr. Sedgwick in The British and Foreign Medico-Chir- urgical Review for July 1863 in the following language : "For atavism in disease appears to be but an instance of memory in reproduction, as imitation is expressed in direct descent ; and in the same way that memory never, as it were, dies out, but in some state always exists, so the previous existence of some peculiarity in organization may likewise be regarded as never abso- lutely lost in succeeding generations, except by ex- tinction of race." The next formulation of mnemo- genesis is by Hering in 1870. 3 It is concentrated in the following paragraph : "The appearance of properties of the parental or- ganism in the full-grown filial organism can be noth- ing else but the reproduction of such processes of organized matter as the germ when still in the germi- nal vesicles had taken part in ; the filial organism re- members, so to speak, those processes, and as soon as 1" Mechanical Origin of the Hard Parts of the Mammalia," Amer. Journal 0/ Morphology, 1889. Origin of the Fittest, 1887, pp. 305-373. 2 Proceeds. Boston Soc. Nat. History, 1893, p. 73. 3 Address before the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Vienna, May 30, 1870, by Ewald Hering; English translation, Chicago, 1895. THE ENERG Y OE £ VOL UTION. 493 an occasion of the same or similar irritations is offered, j a reaction takes place as formerly in the parental or-i ganism, of which it was then a part and whose desti- nies influenced it." In explanation of this theory, Hering says : "We notice, further on, that the process of development of the germs which are destined to attain an independent existence, exercises a powerful reaction both on the conscious and unconscious life of the whole organism. And this is a hint that the organ of germination is in closer and more momentous relation to the other parts, especially to the nervous system, than any other organ. In an inverse ratio, the conscious destinies of the whole organism, it is most probable, find a stronger echo in the germinal vesicles than else- where." If heredity is a form of memory, its laws may re- semble those of the psychic memory. In the latter, everything depends on what we call the strength of the impression. A single impression is often easily forgotten, and the certainty of recollection is largely dependent on the frequency of repetition of the stimu- lus. This is the essence of mental education, and it; is probably the law of education of the germ-plasmaj as well. Thus may be understood how stimuli end-' lessly repeated through long geologic ages, must pro- duce results far more profound and lasting than spo- radic impressions of modern and artificial origin. It must be here remarked for the benefit of the reader who may be unfamiliar with the explanation of the psychic memory, that it is the conscious part of memory which gives it its psychic character. This side is due to a fundamental molecular arrangement caused by stimuli, which may be retained for long periods without expression in consciousness. Thus 494 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. Bain regards memory as consisting of an unconscious and a conscious stage, and the latter he terms rem- iniscence. Other psychologists in common with man- kind generally, use the word memory for the conscious expression. I have termed the unconscious condition of the molecular basis of mind, cryptopnoy. CHAPTER X.— THE FUNCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS. i. CONSCIOUSNESS AND AUTOMATISM. CONSCIOUSNESS is a general term, which em- braces all forms of self-knowledge. Sentiency is sometimes used with an identical meaning. Conscious- ness must be distinguished from self-consciousness, which implies introspection. Consciousness may or may not be characterised by attention. There are two widely different types of consciousness, viz., the pre- sentative and the representative. The former includes sense-perception only; the latter includes all the com- binations of sense-perception which characterize men- tal action, from simple memory to the most compre- hensive classification and conception. Most, if not all, animals appear to possess sense-perception, and all such possess the representative faculty of memory; but the higher grades of representative mental function are not so general among animals, and the extent of their occurrence is yet in dispute. In the preceding pages I have endeavored to show that the factors of evolution are bathmogenesis cor- rected by natural selection. Bathmogenesis embraces the two factors physiogenesis and kinetogenesis, or the products of molecular and molar motion, respectively. 496 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. These two forms of motion have been coextensive with the existence of life, neither one preceding the other in time. Statogenesis is the expression of a form of energy which characterizes inorganic matter, while bathmogenesis is entirely peculiar to living things. Kinetogenesis is the fundamental principle in organic evolution, since it determines the amount and kind of physiogenesis, because it creates the environment which furnishes the conditions of physiogenesis. Pro- gressive organic evolution may, then, be described as due to kinetogenesis corrected by natural selection. At the basis, however, molar organic motion, i. e., con- traction of protoplasm, is probably molecular, but it is distinguished from other forms of molecular motion in the vast aggregate of molecules which move simultan- eously in one direction, as in an amoeba or a muscle, thus effecting a change in the position of all or a part of an organism. Hence the distinction is a real one. Molar motion being, then, of such fundamental im- portance as a factor in evolution, the cause of such motion is also a capital question. Contraction of protoplasm is caused by stimuli, such as currents of electricity and chemical reagents ; but such stimuli are not those which ordinarily produce the contractions to which the molar movements of living animals are due. In those animals which possess a nervous system it has been shown that contractions only follow stimuli which are conveyed to the contractile elements by nervous threads, and the internal energy which repre- sents the external stimulus, is called nervous energy or neurism. In animals without a nervous system, and in plants, external stimuli must be justly supposed to be converted into the same form of energy, which in such organisms has a general circulation throughout THE E UNCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 497 the contractile protoplasm. The important point about these movements in most animals is, that their direc- tion directly subserves the attainment of some position which is favorable for the procurement of relief from some unpleasant sensation, or the acquisition of some agreeable one, or both. We have the best reasons for believing this to be true of the vast majority of animals, because their structure is fundamentally like our own, and the inference that the same is true of the lowest forms of life is justifiable until it is proven to be mis- taken. Lamarck has attributed the movements of animals to the necessity of satisfying their instincts, without entering into the metaphysical questions which this involves. I have regarded the question as a meta- physical one by asserting that the necessary prelim- inary to movement is "effort," referring to what are called "voluntary" as distinguished from automatic motions.1 Without special organs of movement, a great part of the phenomena of kinetogenesis would have no exis- tence, precisely as natural selection cannot act unless the materials for selection (i. e. variations) are already in existence. In explanation of the origin of organs of movement we have the general ability of the primi- tive animal, or protozoon, to project portions of its body-substance as pseudopodia, which, in more spe- cialized forms, become persistent and more or less rigid, as flagella, cilia, etc.; which are the first distinct organs which subserve the transportation of the body from place to place. The causes which lead to these changes are as yet obscure, but that the use of these 1 Proceeds. Am. Philos. Soc, 1871, p. 18. Origin of the Fittest, 1887, p. 19^., 390 498 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. organs when once called into existence is due to stimuli similar to those which affect the motions of the limbs of the higher animals, is altogether probable. What- ever be its nature, the preliminary to any animal move- ment which is not automatic, is an effort. And as no adaptive movement is automatic the first time it is per- formed, we may regard effort as the immediate source of all movement. Now, effort is a conscious state, and is a sense of resistance to be overcome. When an act is performed without effort, resistance has been over- come, and the mechanism necessary for the performance of the act has been completed. The stage of automa- tism has been reached. At the inception of a new movement resistance is necessarily experienced. It is generally believed that a mental state, as a sensation or a desire, which may or may not stimulate a rational process as an intervening element in the circuit, is concerned in overcoming this resistance. A different view is held by certain physiologists and metaphysicians, as e. g. Wundt and Hoffding. Hux- ley thus states his opinion in his Belfast address of 1874, * a propos of Descartes's doctrine that all animals below man are automata. "The consciousness of brutes would appear to be related to the mechanism of their body simply as a collateral product of its work- ing, and to be as completely without any power of modifying that working as the steam-whistle which accompanies the work of a locomotive-engine is with- out influence on its machinery. Their volition, if they have any, is an emotion indicative of physical changes, not a cause of such changes.'''' (Italics mine.) In other words, stimulus excites conscious states, but the state thus produced has no influence on the resulting act. ^■Scientific Culture and Other Essays, p. 243. THE FUNCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 499 That sense-perceptions are stimuli to the immediate appearance of structural changes or movements is ad- mitted. This is shown by the production of color changes in animals through changes in the condition of the organs of sight. Pouchet showed that the extir- pation of both eyes of the turbot, and of a Gobius, paralyzed the chromatophorous cells, so that the usual color-adaptations to the color of the surface of the bot- tom on which they rested, could not be made. He also produced the same effect on one side of a trout by re- moving the eye of the opposite side. The chromato- phorae were permanently expanded, and the colors dark. Some experiments which I tried with tree frogs of the species Hyla g7-atiosa, and Hyla carolinensis, are as follows : The color is usually green in both species, but it changes to dark brown where the frog rests on a brown surface, as of bark, etc. It appears that the maintenance of the brown color requires a more vigor- ous nervous stimulus than the green. The frogs are green at death ; and limbs which I ligated remained green when the remainder of the surface became brown. Now in individuals with extirpated eyes, the color was always green, no matter what the surface on which they rested. The power of assuming the brown color was lost. In these experiments it is difficult to connect the expansion of the chromatophorous cells as any effect of consciousness of color, by direct proof. If, how- ever, muscular cells can be contracted under the in- fluence of mental states, a similar mechanism may be supposed to exist in the case of chromatophorae. The fact that the process may be now reflex does not ex- clude the other fact of the influence of consciousness 5oo PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. at the inception, and its necessity for the continuance of the habit. If we examine muscular movements, the evidence of control by consciousness becomes more distinct. New conditions bring forth new acts in animals too frequently to permit us to believe otherwise. Thus Mr. Belt tells of a procession of ants which crossed a railroad in Panama. Many were killed on the rail, so the column excavated a passage beneath the rail, and thus escaped further injury. No one can reasonably deny the intervention of a conscious state of a high order, as directly controlling the muscular movements of those ants. According to Beauchamp, termites in the same region display similar intelligence. A num- ber of them were confined in a deep glass vessel with smooth sides which they could not scale. They there- upon deposited drops of their building secretion, which hardens on drying, on the glass, ascending backwards, and so made a stair out of their prison, by which they escaped. A Cebus capucinus in my possession imitated some carpenters who were working in the room with a draw- ing-knife. He used a triangular piece of tin, and, holding the corners, drew the edge towards him over the surface of a piece of squared wood on which he sat. He did this rapidly and repeatedly, with many grimaces. A Cebus apella in the Philadelphia Zoologi- cal Garden lights matches whenever he can get them. He always selects the proper end, and holds it at a proper distance, so that the stick is not broken and his fingers are not burned. He strikes them on the rough outside of his drinking-kettle. My Cebus came direct from the forests of Venezuela, and he had not been educated among carpenters. The history of the apella THE FUNCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 501 I do not know, but he had not probably been brought up among matches, and his act was in any case not reflex. As an illustration of the simplest of movements, and their physical conditions, I cite those of the Myx- omycetes, from Stahl.1 "The movement of Myxomycetes is influenced by: "1. Moisture (Hydrotropism): In their young stages they winder from the parts of the substratum (i. e. of the deposit on which they are creeping), which are gradually drying up, toward those which continue moist longer; ^ it is even possible, by bringing moist bodies into the proximity of any ramifications, to cause the production of pseudopodia, which elevate them- selves from the substratum, and soon come into con- tact with the moist object, so as to enable the whole mass of the plasmodium to migrate on to it.' On the entrance of the plasmodia into the fructifying condi- tion, positive hydrotropism gives place to negative ; the myxomycete quits the moist substratum and creeps upwards on to the surface of dry objects. "2. Unequal distribution of warmth in the sub- stratum, and "3. Unequal supplies of oxygen also cause loco- motion in the myxomycete. "4. Chemical substances soluble in water have a similar action. Contact of the plasmodia on one side with solutions of common salt, saltpetre, or carbonate of potash, cause them to withdraw from the danger- ous spot, while infusion of tan, or a dilute solution of sugar, produces a flow of the protoplasm and ulti- 1E. Stahl, "Zur Biologic der Myxomyceten," Botan. Zeitung, 1S84, No. 10-12. Abstract in Sitzungsbericht der Jenaischen ilcsellschaft J'iir Medizin und Naturwissensckaft, 1883, Sitzung vom 16. November. 5o2 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. mately translocation of the whole plasmodial mass towards the source of nourishment. Some solutions have an attractive or repulsive effect, according to their degree af concentration. "5. Finally, they withdraw from light (negative heliotropism). "With regard to the acceleration or definite direc- tion of movement produced entirely by stimuli, com- pare the following : "The knowledge of the remarkably delicate reac- tion of the plasmodia under external influences enables us to comprehend how these tender structures, desti- tute of every kind of external protection, are able to carry on their existence. The plasmodia which are not yet ripe for reproduction are kept in the moist sub- stratum by positive hydrotropism, which is assisted by negative heliotropism. "But within the darkness and moisture of the sub- stratum the plasmodia by no means remain in one place, because the differences in the chemical compo- sition of the substratum cause continual migrations. The plasmodia have the faculty in a wonderful way of avoiding harmful substances, and, traversing their substratum in all directions, of taking up the materials they require. "When the internal changes have proceeded so far that the plasmodia approach the fructifying condition, they are brought by the negative hydrotropism which now sets in, from the moist parts of the ground in the forest or wood to the surface, where they creep up various upright objects, often only forming rigid re- productive capsules at some height from the ground. "When in autumn the substratum becomes grad- ually colder a change which takes place from the sur- THE FUNCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 503 face downwards, the plasmodia migrate into deeper regions still having a higher temperature. When the cooling proceeds very gradually, which especially hap- pens in large tan-heaps, the plasmodia may, in their migration reach somewhat considerable depths, where they then change into sclerotia. To find the sclerotia of ^Ethalium in winter it is, therefore, not seldom necessary to search through the mass of tan to a depth of several feet. When the temperature again begins to rise, the sclerotia again germinate, and movement in the opposite direction takes place from the deeper and cooler parts to the upper portions already warmed. "In the locomotion of the Myxomycetes, then, we see extremely interesting cases of movements due to stimulation. Heliotropism, geotropism, hydrotropism, trophotropism, in general, are stimulus-movements, and ultimately all growth depends on stimulus-move- ment. It is the most primitive kind of protoplasmic movement. Stimuli in fixed directions and constantly repeated, produced, but only secondarily, fixed paths of conduction, and responses of a quite definite kind (reflexes). Thus arose nerves, and finally apparatus for stirring up stimuli, arose sensation and will — as acquired and inherited faculties." In this lowest type of organic movement it is diffi- cult to discern any cause for it different from those which actuate higher organisms. What form of inor- ganic energy can be cited as sufficient to cause the organism to change its position with regard to stimuli to self-preservation, and without regard to gravita- tion, or any known form of attraction or repulsion? In the Fuligo (tan flowers) a most pronounced ex- ample of designed movement has been observed. This form, in the amcebula stage, will, according 504 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. to H. J. Carter, "confine itself to the water of the watch-glass in which it may be placed, when away from the sawdust and chips of wood among which it has been living ; but if the watch-glass be placed upon the sawdust it will very soon make its way over the side of the watch-glass and get to it. " This act probably depends on a sense-perception of the presence and posi- tion of the tan-bark, and of a feeling of desire to reach it. This may have been due to a sense of discomfort due to the surrounding water, or to a recollection of superior comfort associated with the tan-bark. Ordinary observation of most animals leads to the belief that their movements are provoked by sensa- tions, as of hunger, thirst, temperature, etc. ; also of sight, hearing, smell, etc., when they possess those senses. There are physiologists who deny that such is the case, but I must insist on the importance of a psychological rather than a physiological study of ani- mals as a most important source of information in this direction. The students of dead or mutilated animals miss important evidence as to the phenomena of consciousness. The attempt has been made to identify hunger, for instance, with chemical energy, a proposition which is simply irrational. It may be none the less true, however, that hunger is a necessary con- comitant of a molecular condition. Observation on living animals shows in the most conclusive manner that by far the greater number of species are capable of the performance of acts in response to new situations and circumstances for the performance of which no automatic mechanism exists. Memory is clearly pres- ent in them, and, as a consequence, judgments are formed which determine the succeeding acts. The process, be it ever so simple, is "representative, " and THE FUNCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 505 thus a mental act, at least one stage beyond sense- impression. The doctrine that conscious states have preceded organisms in time and evolution I have called archaesthetism. It seems to have been first clearly for- mulated by Erasmus Darwin, who believed that growth has been stimulated by "irritations " (of hunger, thirst, etc.) and by the pleasurable sensations attending those irritations, and by exertions in consequence of painful sensations, similar to those of hunger and suffocation,"1 etc. The weakness of the doctrine of archaesthetism con- sists in our ignorance of the characters of the Proto- zoa, with respect to the presence or absence of con- sciousness or sensation. While many of the acts of these low organisms need not be explained by suppos- ing its presence, others seem to be impossible without it. We are, however, led to infer its presence rather on uniformitarian grounds, than by any certainty of explanation of the phenomena. We can trace sensa- tion so far down in the scale of animal life, that it seems unreasonable to deny its presence when the same phenomena are exhibited by the Protozoa. We are confirmed in our belief in the presence of sensation in these low forms, by the knowledge that reflex acts are the product of conscious acts, whereas we have no evidence that conscious acts are the product of the re- flex. Although it is frequently alleged or assumed that designed conscious acts are the product of reflexes, no one has yet shown how this is possible. On the other hand, the development of automatic acts out of con- scious ones is of ordinary occurrence, and is known under the name of education, lZoonomia XXXIX. 3- Osborn From the Greeks to Darwin, p. 148 5o6 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. The relation of consciousness to the physical basis is as yet a profound mystery, but that they exercise over each other a definite mutual control is unques- tionable. The processes which produce thought, as conception, judgment, etc., are, however, not qualita- tively related to the amount of nutritious proteids consumed in the central nervous system, but only quantitatively; yet it is the outcome of these processes that directs animal movements, when they are not auto- matic. In other words, the forms of thought, which have no weight, direct the movements of muscles, which have weight. This is not in accord with the doctrine of the correlation of energy. But what has the formation of a concept, or the development of a judgment, to do, per se, with the correlation of energy? I may give this idea a more definite expression by the following diagram i1 AFFIRMATIVE. NEGATIVE. AFFIRMATIVE. NEGATIVE. I 5 I 3 2 6 2 4 3 5 4 6 Let each square represent the grammes of energy necessary for the maintenance in consciousness of six propositions. Judgment issues from the side of the predominating number of propositions. They arrange themselves in consciousness in accordance with their qualities, in two aggregations represented by columns in the squares. Now if they arrange themselves in four affirmative and two negative, as in square i, the IThis is in explanation of the same proposition as stated by me in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1889, p. 504. THE FUNCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 507 judgment is affirmative. If, on the other hand, they arrange themselves in two affirmative and four nega- tive, as in square 2, the judgment is negative. The energy expended in the two cases is the same. So also in forming different concepts from the same set of par- ticular sense-impressions or memories. Is there any dif- ference in the energy expended in forming from them the concept of bigness as compared with that of red- ness? While, therefore, every mental process is ex- pensive as a whole, the mental content is obedient to the forms of thought rather than the correlation of energy. This is what mind is. While it is doubtful whether any animal below man can form a concept (with a very few possible exceptions), the formation of simple judgments is general. Any decision based on experience is a judgment. In order to render this proposition clearer, I have formulated it in the following language, although it is possible that the definition of energy will not bear the strain of the statement. • " The formal statement of this phenomenon may be found in the thesis, that energy can be conscious. If true, this is an ultimate fact, neither more nor less diffi- cult to comprehend than the nature of energy or matter in their ultimate analyses. But how is such a hypothesis to be reconciled with the facts of nature, where consciousness plays a part so infmitesimally small? The explanation lies close at hand, and has been already referred to. Energy become automatic is no longer conscious, or is about to become unconscious. That this is the case is matter of every-day observa- tion on ourselves and on other animals. What the molecular conditions of consciousness are, is one of the problems of the future, and for us a very interest- 508 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. ing one. One thing is certain, the organization of the mechanism of habits is its enemy. It is clear that in animals, energy, on the loss of consciousness, undergoes a retrograde metamorphosis. "To regard consciousness as the primitive condi- tion of energy, contemplates an order of evolution in large degree the reverse of the one which is ordinarily entertained. The usual view is, that life is a deriva- tive from inorganic energies as a result of high or com- plex molecular organization, and that consciousness (= sensibility) is the ultimate outcome of the nervous or equivalent energy possessed by living bodies. The failure of the attempts to demonstrate spontaneous generation will prove, if continued, fatal to this theory. With our present evidence it may be affirmed that not only 'has life preceded organization,' but that con- sciousness was coincident with the dawn of life.'''' The facts cited, and the doctrines defended in the preceding pages lead to one inference as to the relation of consciousness to its physical basis. The condition of matter necessary to the maintenance of conscious- ness is, in the language of morphology, generalized '; in the language of chemistry, neutral ; in the language of physics, non-equilibrated. The materialist and the ani- mist can alike agree as to this generalization. The difference between the two positions is a difference of view as to the mutual relations of the two members of the partnership. Is the permanent absence of equi- librium of living protoplasm due to control by con- sciousness ? or is consciousness a product of an absence of equilibrium, which is due to chemical and physical action? The latter proposition is untenable, because the inevitable tendency of chemical and physical ener- gies is to an equilibrium. Is, therefore, the other al- THE FUNCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 509 ternative true? There seems to be no escape from it, and it accords also with our personal human experi- ence of the agency of conscious states in our various activities, physical and mental. 2. THE EFFECTS OF CONSCIOUSNESS. From the facts cited it is evident that sensation (consciousness) has preceded in time and in history, the evolution of the greater part of plants and animals, both unicellular and multicellular. It appears also that if kinetogenesis be true, consciousness has been essential to a rising scale of organic evolution. Animals who do not perform simple acts of self- preservation must necessarily perish sooner or later. In fact it is impossible to understand how the lowest forms of life, utterly dependent as they are on physi- cal conditions of many kinds, should not have been all destroyed, were they not possessed of some degree of consciousness under stimuli at least. And the case is even plainer with the higher forms. We have only to picture to ourselves the condition of a vertebrate without general or special sensation, to perceive how essential consciousness is to its existence. If now, as maintained in Chapter IV., use has modified struc- ture, and so, in cooperation with the environment, has directed evolution, we can understand the origin and development of useful organs. And we can under- stand how by parasitism or other mode of gaining a livelihood without exertion, the adoption of new and skilful movements would become unnecessary, and consciousness itself would be seldom aroused. Con- tiued repose would be followed by subconsciousness, and later by unconsciousness. Such appears to be the history of degeneracy everywhere, and such is, per- 510 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. haps, the history of the entire vegetable kingdom. From their ability to manufacture protoplasm from inorganic substances, plants do not need to move about in search of food, so that they require no con- sciousness of conditions to guide their movements. They become fixed, and their entire organization be- comes monopolized by the functions of nutrition and reproduction. Movements rarely occur, and when present are confined to those of one part of the struc- ture or another. They are mostly rhythmic or rotary, and very seldom exhibit the quality of impromptu de- sign. The satisfactory explanation of those that ex- hibit general design, as the adaptation for transporta- tion often seen in seeds, may be chance coincidence and natural selection. The ascending scale of development of intelligence observed among animals is strong evidence in support of the hypothesis here outlined. There can be no doubt that in the long run the most intelligent have survived. They have survived because they were capable of the most successful designed acts, thus directing their movements to the most useful ends. These movements ultimately modified their structure usefully, to the perfecting of mechanisms in every way important to their possessors. This much having been established as to the cause of anagenesis, let us look more closely into the history of catagenesis. Movements of organic beings on frequent repeti- tion become automatic, reflex, and finally, as it is termed, organic. This means the running down of energy through various grades, beginning with the highest or conscious stage, and ending with the purely reflex, which is as unconscious of changes in the en- vironment as is any one of the physical energies. The THE FUNCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 511 conscious stage is evidently the most susceptible to the stimuli of the environment, and the process of catagenesis is one of degeneracy to less and less sensi- tive and to more and more mechanical conditions. The resemblance of the lowest grade of organic activ- ities to physical mechanical energy is so great that it is almost universally supposed by evolutionists to be of purely mechanical origin, but I have endeavored to show that they are of totally different origin, and that the only explanation of their characteristics is the hy- pothesis of catagenesis. In accordance with this view, the automatic "in- voluntary" movements of the heart, intestines, repro- ductive systems, etc., were organized in primitive and simple animals in successive states of consciousness, which stimulated "voluntary" movements, which ulti- mately became rhythmic; whose results varied with the machinery already existing and the material at hand for use. It is not inconceivable that circulation may have been established by the suffering produced by an overloaded stomach demanding distribution of its contents. The structure of the Infusoria offers the structural conditions of such a process. A want of propulsion in a stomach or body-sack occupied with its own functions would lead to a painful clogging of the flow of its products, and the "voluntary" contrac- tility of the body or tube-wall being thus stimulated, would at some point originate the pulsation necessary to relieve the tension. Thus might have originated the "contractile vesicle " or contractile tube of some protozoa ; its ultimate product being the mammalian heart. So with reproduction. Perhaps an excess of assimilation in well-fed individuals of the first animals led to the discovery that self-division constituted a re- 512 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC FVOLUTION. lief from the oppression of too great bulk. With the increasing specialization of form, this process would become necessarily localized in the body, and growth would repeat such resulting structure in descent, as readily as any of the other structural peculiarities. No function of the higher animals bears the mark of con- scious origin more than this one, as consciousness is still one of the conditions of its performance. While less completely "voluntary" than muscular action, it is more dependent on stimulus for its initial move- ments, and does not in these display the unconscious automatism characteristic of many other functions. There remain, however, some phenomena which do not yield so readily to this analysis. First, we have the conversion of inorganic substances into protoplasm by plants. It is also well known that living animal or- ganisms act as producers, by conversion, of various kinds of inorganic energy, as heat, light, sound, electri- city, motion, etc. It is the uses to which these forces are put by the animal organism, the evident design in the occasion of their production, that gives them the stamp of organic life. We recognize the specific utility of the secretions of the glands, the appropriate distribution of the products of digestion and adaptation of muscular motion to many uses. The increase of heat to protect against depression of temperature ; the light to direct the sexes to each other ; the electricity as a defence against enemies — display unmistakably the same util- ity. We must not only believe that these functions of animals were originally used by them under stimu- lus, for their benefit, but, if life preceded organism, that the mechanism which does the work has devel- oped as the result of the animal's exertions under stim- uli. This will especially apply to the mechanism for THE FUNCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 5i3 the production of motion and sound. The production of heat, light, chemism, and electricity doubtless re- sult from molecular aptitudes inherent in the constitu- tion of protoplasm. But the first and last production of even these phenomena is dependent on the motions of the animal in obtaining and assimilating nutrition. For without nutrition all energy would speedily cease. Now the motion required for the obtaining of nutrition has its origin in the sensation of hunger. So, even for the first steps necessary to the production of inorganic forces in animals, we are brought back to a primitive consciousness. This hypothesis I have termed Ar- chaesthetism. "It maintains that consciousness as well as life preceded organism, and has been the primum mobile in the creation of organic structure. This conclusion also flows from a due consideration of the nature of life. I think it possible to show that the true defini- tion of life is, energy directed by sensibility, or by a mech- anism which has originated under the direction of sensi- bility. If this be true, the two statements that life has preceded organism, and that consciousness has pre- ceded organism are coequal expressions. "Granting the existence of living protoplasm on the earth, there is little doubt that we have some of its earliest forms still with us. From these sim- plest of living beings both vegetable and animal king- doms have been derived. But how was the distinc- tion between the two lines of development, now so widely divergent, originally produced ? The process is not difficult to imagine. The original plastid dis- solved the salts of the earth and appropriated the gases of the atmosphere and built for itself more protoplasm. Its energy was sufficient to overcome the chemism 5 1 4 PRIMA RY FA CTORS OF OR GANIC E VOL UTION. that binds the molecules of nitrogen and hydrogen in ammonia, and of carbon and oxygen in carbonic diox- ide. It apparently communicated to these molecules its own method of being, and raised the type of energy from the polar non-vital to the adaptive vital by the process. Thus it transformed the dead inorganic world, perhaps by a process of invasion, as when a fire com- municates itself from burning to not burning combust- ible material. Thus it has been doing ever since, but it has redeposited some of its gathered stores in vari- ous non-vital forms. Some of these are in organic forms, as cellulose ; others are crystals imprisoned in its cells ; while others are amorphous, as waxes, resins, and oils. But consciousness apparently early aban- doned the vegetable line. Doubtless all the energies of vegetable protoplasm soon became automatic. The plants in general, in the persons of their protist ances- tors, soon left a free-swimming life and became sessile. Their lives thus became parasitic, more automatic, and in one sense degenerate. " The animal line may have originated in this wise. Some individual protists, perhaps accidentally, de- voured some of their fellows. The easy nutrition which ensued was probably pleasurable, and once enjoyed was repeated, and soon became a habit. The excess of energy thus saved from the laborious process of making protoplasm was available as the vehicle of con- sciousness and motion. From that day to this, con- sciousness has abandoned few if any members of the animal kingdom. In many of them it has specialized into more or less mind. Organization to subserve its needs has achieved a multifarious development. There is abundant evidence to show that the permanent and the successful forms have ever been those in which THE FUNCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 515 motion and sensibility have been preserved, and most highly developed.1 We must remember, however, that in the matter of the evolution of plant-types we have an especial factor in the influence which insects have exerted on the conditions of almost all of their organs. Insects originated early in geological time, and have closely accompanied plants in their evolution. As the source of the food, and as the dwelling-places of great num- bers'of insects, they have been subjected to a class of stimuli and strains similar to those which animals have experienced. It is believed that the forms of the or- gans of fructification and especially of the flowers, have been greatly modified by the influence of insects.2 The general evolution of plants, however, presents us with a greater predominance of physiogenetic or simple dynamical conditions over the bathmic, than in the case of animals. Thus many peculiarities of the inflores- cence directly result from the shortening of the axial growth in complementary relation to the increase of peripheral growth. Such is evidently the origin of flowers themselves ; secondly of the umbel as com- pared with the spike or panicle and finally of the com- posite head as compared with the other modes of in- florescence. To the cohesion of the elements of a whorl, possible only in the case of an abbreviated axis, can we ascribe the formation of a seed vessel from dis- crete carpels, and a gamopetalous from a polypetalous corolla. Degeneracy or specialization is to be seen everywhere, as in the abortion of ovules, carpels, and perianth. "Catagenesis of living organisms has been epito- \Origin of the Fittest \ p. 428, 432. 2Hcnslow. 516 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. mized in the following language : « Evolution of living types is then a succession of elevation of platforms, on which succeeding ones have built. The history of one horizon of life is that its own completion but pre- pares the way for a higher one, furnishing the latter with conditions of a still further development. Thus the vegetable kingdom died, so to speak, that the ani- mal kingdom might live, having descended from an ani- mal stage to subserve the function of food for animals. The successive types of animals first stimulated the development of the most susceptible to the conflict, in the struggle for existence, and afterwards furnished them with food.' In the occupation of the world's fields, the easiest and nearest at hand have been first occupied, and successively those which were more dif- ficult. The digging animals are generally those which first abandoned the open field to more courageous or stronger rivals ; and they remain to this day generally of low type compared with others of their classes (e. g. Monotremata, Glires, Insectivord). All occupations have been filled before that one which requires the greatest expenditure of energy, i. e. mental activity. But all other modes of life have fallen short of this one in giv- ing the supremacy over nature." We now approach an explanation of the phenome- non of anagenesis. Why should evolution be pro- gressive in the face of universal catagenesis? No other ground seems discoverable but the presence of sensa- tion or consciousness, which is, metaphysically speak- ing, the protoplasm of mind. The two sensations of hunger and sex, have furnished the stimuli to internal and external activity, and memory, or experience with natural selection, have been the guides. Mind and body have thus developed contemporaneously and THE FUNCTION" OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 517 have reacted mutually. Without the cooperation of all these factors, anagenesis seems impossible. From this point of view the study of the evolution of mind and its relation to the organic world assumes a new importance. Circumstances have forbidden my entering on this subject in the present volume, but I hope to be able to devote especial attention to it at a future time. One fundamental postulate of mental evolution may, however, be mentioned here. That is, as Spencer has pointed out, the instinct of hunger is at the basis of the activity which has developed the intelligence, while that of sex is at the basis of the de- velopment of the altruistic or social instincts and affec- tions. With this proposition I leave this interesting part of the doctrine of evolution. CHAPTER XI.— THE OPINIONS OF NEOLAMARCKIANS. LAMARCK ascribed some of the evolutionary changes J of structure to changes in the environment, some to the motions of organic beings, and others to both combined.1 Spencer in 1865'2 devoted a short chapter to the effect of motion in producing variations, and specified the mechanical effect of flexure in producing segmentation of the vertebral column. The present writer in 18713 insisted on the importance of motion as a factor in determining growth, and in 18724 I ap- proached the subject more definitely in the following language : " The first physical law is that growth force . . . must develop extent in the direction of least re- sistance, and density on the side of greatest resist- ance." In 1877 Ryder further applied the principle of motion to the origin of structural changes, chiefly reduction of digits, in the feet of Mammalia in lan- guage5 which I have quoted on page 311. J Philosophic Zoologique, Chap. VII., 1809; translation in American Nat- ural'ist for 1888. ^Principles of Biology, II., pp. 167 and 195. ^Proceeds. Amer. Philosoph. Sac, 1871, p. 259. Origin of the Fittest, 1887, p. 210. 4Penn Monthly Magazine, July, 1872. Origin of the Fittest, 1887, p. 30. 5 American Naturalist, 1877, p. 607. THE OPINIONS OF NEO-LAMARCKIANS. 519 In the same year, in discussing the origin of the great development of the incisor teeth in the Roden- tia,1 Professor Ryder, in summing up, ventured "the reflection that the more severe strains to which they were subjected by enforced or intelligently assumed changes of habit, were the initiatory agents in causing them to assume their present forms, such forms as were best adapted to resist the greatest strains with- out breaking." In 1878 the writer2 advanced the fol- lowing proposition : "Change of structure is seen to take place in accordance with the mechanical effect of three kinds of motion, viz., by friction, pressure, and strain." In the same year Professor Ryder went into a discussion of the specific application of strains in the evolution of the dental types of the diplarthrous Un- gulata, and prepared the field for work in the Rodentia and Proboscidia.3 In 1879 the writer gave mechan- ical reasons for the reduction of the sectorial teeth of Carnivora to one, and for their present position in the jaws.4 In 1881 the writer5 described the specific ac- tion of impacts and strains in the production of the existing characters of the articulations of the limbs in the higher Mammalia. In 1887 the same subject, to- gether with that of the mechanical origin of the char- acters of the molar teetli, was more fully investigated in a paper on the Perissodactyla.6 In 1888 the writer published a paper on the mechanical origin of the sec- torial teeth of the Carnivora,7 one on the mechanical 1 Proceeds. Phila. Acad., 1877, p. 318. 2 American Naturalist, January, 1878. Origin of the Fittest, p. 354. 3 Proceeds. Phila. Acad., 187S, p. 45. 4 American Naturalist, March, 1879. 5 American Naturalist, April and June, 1881. 6 American Naturalist, 1887, pp. 985, 1060. 7 Read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, New York, 1887, p. 254. 520 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. origin of the peculiar dentition of the Glires,1 and a third on the mechanical origin of the dentition of the Amblypoda.2 In 1889 I discussed the mechanical causes of the structures of the elbow and other joints in the Artiodactyla and the origin of the peculiar in- tervertebral articulations in that order.3 In the same year I published a resume of the work done on this subject with reference to the Mammalia.4 Since that time important contributions to the subject have been made by Ryder, Osborn, Wortman, Dall, Jackson, and others, to which reference will now be made. Hyatt says as a result of his exhaustive studies of the phylogeny of the Cephalopoda5; "The ac- tion of physical changes takes effect upon an irrit- able, plastic organism which necessarily responds to external stimulants by an internal reaction or effort. This action from within upon the parts of organisms modifies their hereditary forms by the production of new growths or changes, which are therefore adapted or suitable to the conditions of the habitat, and are therefore physiologically and organically equivalent to the physical agents and forces from which they directly or indirectly originated. In so far then, as causes and habits are similar, they probably produce representa- tion or morphological equivalence in different series of the same type in similar habitats : and in so far as they are different, they probably produce the differen- 1 American Naturalist, January, 188S, p. 3. 2 Proceeds. Amer. Philosoph. Soc, 1888, p. 80. 3 American Naturalist, March, 1889. 4 The American Journal of Morphology, September, 1889, pp. 137-277, "On the Mechanical Causes of the Development of the Hard Parts of the Mam- malia." 5 The Genesis of the Arietidce, by Alpheus Hyatt ; Smithsonian Contribu- tions to Knowledge, and Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Vol. XVi., No. 3, 18S9. THE OPINIONS OF NEO-LAMARCKIANS 521 tials which distinguish series and groups from each other." Packard1 in discussing the causes of the blindness of cave animals, says : "Such a phrase as 'natural selection,' we repeat does not to our mind definitely bring before us the actual working-causes of the evo- lution of these cave organisms, and no one cause can apparently account for the result. The causes are ' change in the environment,' disuse of certain organs ; 'adaptation,' ' isolation,' and 'heredity' operating to secure for the future the permanence of the newly orig- inated forms as long as the physical conditions remain the same." In 1889, Ryder described the ontogenetic origin of the articulations of the cartilaginous fin-rays of the Salmo fontinalis, and used the facts observed as evi- dence that these articulations are due to the mechan- ical strain experienced by the rays in use as motors of the body of the fish in the water.2 Prof. H. F. Osborn in 18903 discussed thoroughly the mechanical causes for the displacement of the ele- ments of the feet of the ungulate Mammalia from linear to alternating relations. (See antea, p. 299.) In an article in Nature^ the same distinguished natu- ralist remarks: "The following views are adopted from those held by Cope and others, so far as they con- form to my own observations and apply to the class of variations which come within the range of paleon- tological evidence. In the life of the individual, adap- l"On the Cave Fauna of North America," Memoirs of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences, IV, pt., I., p. 137. ^Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1889, p. 546. 3 Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, XVI., February, 1890, P- 53i. 4January 9, 1890, p. 277. 522 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. tation is increased by local and general metatrophic changes of necessity correlated, which take place most rapidly in the regions of least perfect adaptation, since here the reactions are greatest ; the main term of vari- ation is determined by the slow transmission, not of the full increase of adaptation, but of the disposition to adaptive atrophy or hypertrophy at certain points ; the variations thus transmitted are accumulated by the selection of the individuals in which they are most marked, and by the extinction of inadaptive varieties or species ; selection is thus of the ensemble of new and modified characters. Finally, there is sufficient paleontological and morphological evidence that ac- quired characters in the above limited sense, are trans- mitted. . . . Excepting in two or three side-lines the teeth of all the Mammalia have passed through closely parallel early stages of evolution, enabling us to formu- late a law : The new main elements of the erown make their appeara?ice at the first points of eontaet, and chief points of wear of the teeth in preceding periods. What- ever may be true of spontaneous variations in other parts of the organism, these new cusps arise in the perfectly definite lines of growth. . . . Now, after ob- serving these principles operating in the teeth, look at the question enlarged by the evolution of parallel spe- cies of the horse series in America and Europe, and add to the development of the teeth what is observed in progress in the feet. Here is the problem of corre- lation in a stronger form even than that presented by Spencer and Romanes. To vary the mode of state- ment : what must be assumed in the strict application of the selection-theory? (a) that variations in the lower molars correlated with coincident variations of reversed patterns in the upper molars, these with metamorpho- THE OPINIONS OF NEO-LAMARCKIANS. 523 sis in the premolars and pocketing of the incisor- enamel ; (J?) all new elements and forms at first so minute as to be barely visible, immediately selected and accumulated ; (7) in the same individuals favor- able variations in the proportions of the digits involv- ing readjustments in the entire limbs and skeleton, all coincident with those in the teeth ; (*/) finally, all the above new variations, correlations, and readjustments not found in the hereditary germ-plasm of one period, but arising fortuitously by the union of different strains, observed to occur simultaneously and to be selected at the same rate in the species of the Rocky Mountains, the Thames Valley, and Switzerland ! These assump- tions, if anything, are understated." I have already referred to the contribution by Dall to the doctrine of kinetogenesis which has resulted from his investigations of the origin of the characters of the lamellibranchiate (or pelecypod) Mollusca.1 He observes : "In reflecting upon the origin of the com- plicated mechanical arrangements in bivalves which we call the hinge, I have come to the conclusion that here, as in the cases of the mammalian foot and tooth elaborated so clearly by Cope and Ryder, we have the result of influences of a mechanical nature operating upon an organ or apparatus in the process of develop- ment. . . . The shell is in one sense the product of se- cretion from the mantle, as the mammalian tooth is derived from the ectoderm of the jaw, or the skeleton from the periosteum and cartilages. Both are that and much more. It would be as reasonable to say that a steam boiler in process of construction is the product of the boy inside who holds the rivet-heads, as to claim that the shell has no more significance ^American Journal of Science and Arts, December. 1889, p. \\~. 524 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. than is implied in the term -secretion of the mantle.' The original theoretic protoconch may have been so, but as soon as it came into being, its development was governed by the physical forces impinging upon it from all sides, and through it influencing the growth and structure of the soft parts beneath. The gastropod shell is the result of the action and reaction between the physical forces of the environment, and the evolu- tionary tendencies of the organic individual. In the pelecypod we have the mechanical stresses and reac- tions of one valve upon the other, added to the cate- gory of influences. To some extent it is doubtless as true that the animal is moulded by its shell, as it is that the shell is shaped by the soft parts of the ani- mal." Dr. Dall in an able paper on the "Dynamic In- fluences in Evolution," read before the Biological So- ciety of Washington, March 8, 1890, writes thus forci- bly: "It is often assumed, in discussing variation, that the possibility of variation is equal in every direction. A consideration of the dynamic conditions of life show that this is not the case, or, at least, if we grant its theoretic truth, in practice it can never be true. Un- der any conditions which would permit it, the result- ing organic forms would have to pass their existence in constant rotation. The moment that any one of them came to rest, it would begin to be subjected to unequal stresses relatively to its different parts. Light, gravity, friction, opportunities for nutrition, would be unequally distributed, with the result of forcing an unequal growth, development, and specialization of its regions. Inequality of form once established, if it were a moving organism, friction and resistance of the THE OPINIONS OF NEO-LAMARCKIANS. 525 circumambient medium, would confirm the inequality, and put individuals of its kind at a disadvantage when they varied towards the original shape." This is an excellent statement of kinetogenesis in concentrated form. Prof. A. S. Packard in an important essay "On the Evolution of the Bristles, Spines, and Tubercles of Certain Caterpillars," etc., remarks as follows \x "The Lamarckian factors (1) of change (both direct and indirect) in the milieu, (2) need, (3) habit, and the now generally adopted principle that a change of func- tion induces change in organs, and in some or many cases actually induces the hypertrophy and specialisa- tion of what otherwise would be indifferent parts or organs. These factors are all important in the evolu- tion in the colors, ornaments, and outgrowths from the cuticle of caterpillars. . . . "So far as I am aware no one has suggested why these horns and high tubercles and often pencils of hairs are restricted to these particular segments. As a partial explanation of the reason, it may be stated that the presence of these high tubercles, etc., is cor- related with the absence of abdominal legs on the seg- ments bearing the former. It will also be noticed that in walking the apodous segments of the caterpillar are more elevated and prominent than those to which the legs are appended. They tend to bend or hump up, particularly the first and the eighth abdominal, the ninth segment being reduced to a minimum, and the tenth simply represented by the suranal and paranal plates, together with the last pair of legs. "As is well known, the loopers or geometrid worms, while walking elevate or bend up the part of the body 1 Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, 1890, p. 493, 510-513- 526 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. situated between the last thoracic and first pair of ab- dominal legs, which are appended to the seventh euomere. Now in the larva of Nematocarpa filamentaria which bears two pairs of remarkable nlamental tuber- cles rolled up at the end, it is certainly very sugges- tive that these are situated on top of the loop made by the caterpillar's body during progression, the first pair arising from the second, and the hinder pair from the fourth abdominal segment. " It seems, therefore, that the humps or horns arise from the most prominent portions of the body, at the point where the body is most exposed to external stim- uli ; and the force of this is especially seen in the con- spicuous position of those tubercles which are volun- tarily made to nod or so move as to frighten away other creatures. Perhaps the tendency of these seg- ments to loop or hump up, has had a relation of cause and effect in inducing the hypertrophy of the dermal tissues entering into the composition of the tubercles or horns." Prof. W. B. Scott1 says : "To sum up the results of our examination of certain series of fossil mammals, one sees clearly that transformation, whether in the way of the addition of new parts or the reduction of those already present, acts just as if the direct action of the environment and the habits of the animal were the efficient cause of the change, and any explanation which excludes the direct action of such agencies is confronted by the difficulty of an immense number of the most striking coincidences. ... So far as I can see the theory of determinate variations and of use-inheri- tance, is not antagonistic, but supplementary to nat- ural selection, the latter theory attempting no explana- 1 American Journal of Blorphology, 1891, pp. 395, 398. THE OPINIONS OF NEOLAMARCKIANS. 527 tion of the causes of variation. Nor is it pretended for a moment that use and disuse are the sole or even the chief factors in variation." European authors, partly from their less favorable situation for the obtaining of paleontologic evidence, have not contributed as much as Americans to the doctrine of bathmogenesis. Nevertheless, in England Spencer, Cunningham, Henslow, and others have sus- tained this doctrine, and in France Giard and Edmond Perrier, and in Germany, Semper, Eimer, and others, who lean principally in their writings to its physio- genetic aspect. Says Eimer : 1 "According to my conception, the physical and chemical changes which organisms experience during life, through light or want of light, air, warmth, cold, moisture, food, etc., and which they transmit by her- edity, are the primary elements in the production of the manifold variety of the organic world, and in the origin of species. From the materials thus supplied, the struggle for existence makes its selection. These changes, however, express themselves simply as growth." Nageli discards completely the agency of natural selection, and sees an internal "Principle of Improve- ment" as the active agent in evolution. He appar- ently includes both statogenesis and bathmogenesis in his conception.2 He says : "Such internal causes must necessarily be sup- posed merely on the ground that modifications or vari- ations of the phyla do actually take place in definite directions, are not irregular. The internal causes effect 1 Organic Evolution, English Translation, 1890, p. 22. 2 Mechanische physiologische Abstammungslchrc, C. V. Nageli, Munich, 1884. 1/ 528 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. a constant alteration of the phyla in definite directions, towards greater perfection, that is, towards greater complexity." Accordingly Nageli describes his theory of internal causes, as the "Principle of Improvement." "Superficial reasoners," he says, "have pretended to discover mysticism in this. But the principle is one of a mechanical nature and constitutes the law of per- sistence of motion in the field of organic evolution. Once the motion of evolution is started it cannot cease, but must persist in its original direction." For convenience of reference I give a list of pa- pers by American authors on this subject. European authors, beginning with Lamarck, and including Spen- cer, have implicitly included in their theses the effects of mechanical strains and impacts in developing the structures of animals. Fick, Henke, Tornier, and others have attempted an exact demonstration of the manner in which these forms of mechanical energy have produced the results. These attempts have great merit as physiological studies, but they have not been used by their authors as illustrations of specific evolu- tion, owing to the fact that they have not carried their researches into the field of paleontology. LIST OF PAPERS'BY AMERICAN AUTHORS WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE EVIDENCE USED IN THIS BOOK. 1866. Hyatt, A. Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural His- tory, p. 203. On the Parallelism Between Stages in the Individual and those in the Groups of Tetrabranchiata. 1866. Cope, E. D. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, p. 398. On the Cyprinidae of Pennsylvania. 1 87 1. Cope, E. D. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, p. 259. On the Method of Creation of Organic Types; reprinted in Origin of the Fittest, 1887, pp. 210, 195- 199- THE OPINIONS OF NEO-LAMARCKIANS. 529 1872. Cope, E. D. Perm Monthly Magazine, May-July. On Evo- lution and Its Consequences ; reprinted in Origin of the Fittest, 1887, p. 30. 1877. Ryder, J. A. American Naturalist, p. 607. On the Laws of Digital Reduction. 1877. Ryder, J. A. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sci- ences of Philadelphia, p. 314. On the Significance of the Diameter of the Incisors of the Rodents. 1878. Cope, E. D. American Naturalist, January. The Relation of Animal Motion to Animal Evolution ; reprinted in Origin of the Fittest, 1887, p. 350. 1878 Ryder, J. A. Proceedings Academy Natural Sciences, Phila- delphia, p. 45. On the Mechanical Genesis of Tooth- Forms. 1879. Cope, E. D. American Naturalist, March. On the Origin of the Specialized Teeth of the Carnivora ; Origin of the Fittest, 1887, p. 363. 1880. Hyatt, A. Memoirs Boston Society Natural History, Fiftieth Anniversary. Genesis of the Tertiary Species of Planor- bis at Steinheim. 1881. Cope, E. D. American Naturalist, April and June. On the Origin of the Foot-Structures of the Ungulates. On the Effect of Impacts and Strains on the Feet of Mammalia ; Origin of the Fittest, 1887, pp. 368, 373. 1883. Ryder, J. A. Popular Science Monthly, XIII., pp. 139- 145, 4 figs. The Gigantic Extinct Armadillos and Their Peculiarities. [Discusses the mechanical genesis, degen- eration, and coalescence of vertebral centra.] 1885. Ryder, J. A. American Naturalist, pp. 411-415. On the Position of the Yolk-Blastopore as Determined by the Size of the Vitellus. 1885. Ryder, J. A. American Naturalist, pp. 815-819 and 903- 907. On the Availability of Embryological Characters in the Classification of the Chordata. 1885. Ryder, J. A. American Naturalist, pp. 1013-1016. On the Genesis of the Extra Terminal Phalanges in the Cetacea. 1885. Ryder, J. A. American Naturalist, pp. 90-97. An Outline of a Theory of the Development of the Unpaired Fins of Fishes. 1886. Ryder, J. A. American Naturalist, pp. 179-185. The Origin of the Amnion. l/ 530 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. 1886. Ryder, J. A. Annual Report U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for 18S4, pp. 981-1085, PI. IX. On the Origin of Heterocercy, etc. 1887. Ryder, J. A. American Naturalist, pp. 780-784. A Theory of the Origin of Placental Types, etc. 1887. Cope, E. D. American Naturalist, pp. 985, 1060. The Perissodactyla. 1888. Cope, E. D. Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, p. 254. On the Mechanical Origin of the Sectorial Teeth of the Carnivora. 1888. Cope, E. D. American Naturalist, p. 3. The Mechanical Causes of the Origin of the Dentition of the Rodentia. 1888. Cope, E. D. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, p. 80. The Mechanical Origin of the Dentition of the Amblypoda. 1888. Ryder, J. A. American Naturalist, p. 547. The Several Functions of the Enamel Organ in the Development of the Teeth of Mammals, and on the Inheritance of Mutilations. 1889. Cope, E. D. American Naturalist, March. The Artiodac- tyla. (The elbow joint ; the zygapophyses.) 1889. Cope, E. D. American Journal of Morphology, IIP, p. 137. The Mechanical Causes of the Development of the Hard Parts of the Mammalia. 1889. Hyatt, A. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, and Memoirs cf the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cam- bridge, XVI , No. 3. The Genesis of the Arietida\ 1889. Dall, W. H. American Journal Science and Arts, XXXVIII., p. 445. Hinge of Pelecypoda and Its Development. 1889. Osborn, H. F. Transactions American Philosophical So- ciety, XVI., p. 531. (Published February, 1890.) The Evolution of the Ungulate Foot ; The Mammalia of the Uinta Formation. 1889. Ryder, J. A. American Naturalist, pp. 218-221. The Po- lar Differentiation of Volvox, etc. 1889. Ryder, J A. American Naturalist, pp. 271-274. The Quad- rate Placenta of Scitirits hudsonius. 1890. Ryder, J. A. Proceedings American Philosophical Society, XXVIII , pp. 109-159. The Origin of Sex, etc. 1890. Ryder, J. A. American Naturalist, pp. 376-378. The Pla- centation of the Hedgehog and Phylogeny of the Placenta. 1890. Packard, A. S. Proceedings Boston Society Natural His* THE OPINIONS OF 1STE0-LAMARCKIANS. 531 tory, XXIV., p. 493. Hints on the Evolution of Certain Bristles, Spines, and Tubercles of Certain Caterpillars. 1890. Dall, W. H Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, May. On Dynamic Influence in Evolution. 1890 Jackson, R. T. Memoirs Boston Society Natural History, IV., p. 277 (July); American Naturalist, 1891, p. n. Phylogeny of the Pelecypoda ; The Aviculidae and Their Allies. 1S90. Dall, W. H. Transactions of the Wagner Free Institute of Science, Philadelphia, III., p. 58 (September). American Naturalist, 1894, P 9°9- Origin of the Plaits on Columella of Gastropoda. 1891. Scott, W. B. American Journal of Morphology, p. 378. On the Osteology of Mesohippus and Leptomeryx ; On Some of the Factors in the Evolution of the Mammalia. 1891. Ward, Lester F. Proceedings Biological Society of Wash- ington, Annual Address. Neo-Darwinism and Neo-La- marckism. 1892. Elliot, D. G. The Auk, IX , January. The Inheritance of Acquired Characters. 1892. Ryder, J. A. American Naturalist, pp. 923-929. A Geo- metrical Representation of the Relative Intensity of the Conflict Between Organisms. 1892. Ryder, J. A. Proceedings Academy Natural Sciences, Phila- delphia, pp. 219-224. On the Mechanical Genesis of the Scales of Fishes. 1893. Sharp, Benj. American Naturalist (February), p. 89. Joint Formation Among the Invertebrata. 1893. Ryder, J. A. Proceedings American Philosophical Society, p. 192. Energy as a Factor in Organic Evolution. 1893. Hyatt, Alpheus. Proceedings Boston Society Natural His- tory, p. 59. Bioplastology and the Related Branches of Biologic Research. 1893. Riley, C. V. Proceedings Entomological Society Washing- ton, II., June, No. 4. Parasitism in Insects. 1893. Orr, Henry B. A Theory of Development and Heredity. New York and London : Macmillan & Co. 8vo. pp. 255. j 893- Hyatt Alpheus. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, p. 349. The Phylogeny of an Acquired Charac- teristic. 532 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. 1894. Ryder, J. A. American Naturalist, p. 154. Orr's Theory of Development and Heredity. 1894. Cope, E. D. American Naturalist, p. 205. The Energy of Evolution. 1894. Cope, E. D. New Occasions, No. 6 (May), Chicago. The Origin of Structural Variations. 1894. Scott, W. B. American Journal Science and Arts, XLVIII. p. 355. Mutation and Variation. INDEX. Abnormal articulations, 275. Abortion of phalanges in ungulates, 353- Acanthodeans, 92. Acanthopterygia, 102, 103, 104, 105, 108, Acceleration, 9, 201. Acquired characters, 10, 359, 401, 4C2, 458. Acrania, 87, 94, 95, 193. Acris, 71. Actinopterygia, 100, 172. Actinozoa, 82, 83. Adapidae, 155. Adirondacks, 50. /Elurodon savus Leidy, 342. /Ethalium, 503. jEtheria, 267. Affections, 517. Africa, 73, 88, 115, 1G3, 168, 462. Agamidae,73. Agassiz, A., 172, 175. Agelceus filler m'ct'US, 52. Ageniosus, 103. Aglossa, 63. Agnatha, 99, 195. Alaska, 49, 50. Algae, 75,77. Allen, H. Dr., 47, 302, 334, 357. Allen, J. A., 45. Altruism, 517. Amblypoda, 128, 132, 133, 141, 143, 144, 297. 34i. 354. 520. Amblyrhiza, 352. Amblystoma tigrinum, 58, 59, 200. Amblystomidae, 58, 199. Ameghino, 154, 157, 357, 365. America, 426. Ametabola, 203. Ammoccetes, 204. Ammonitinae, 187, 188, 189, 190. Ammonoids, 187, 1E8, 422. Ammonoidea, 421. Amoeba, 76, 249. Amcebodect mastication, 318. Amphignathodontidae, 71. Amphimixis, 459. Amphioxus, 86, 457. Amphisilidae, 104. Amphiuma, 113, 218. Anabolism, 481. Anacanthini, 105, 106. Anagenesis, C02, 475, 479, 516. Anaplasis, 201. Anaptomorphus, 155. Anaptomorphidae, 154. Anarcestes, 187. Anchitherium, 148, 320, 359. Ancistrodon contortrix, 22. Ancyloceras, 189. Ancylopoda, 128, 140, 143. Anelytropidae, 123. Anguidae, 123. Annelidcs, 269. Anniellidae, 123. Anodonta, 261. Anomia, 170, 177. A710111 ia glabra, 265. Anoinodontia, 115. Anthropomorpha, 132, 133, 143, 154, 157. 158, 159. 305- Antichemism, 484. Antilocapra americana, 55. Ants, 462, 500. Anura, 107, no, 111, 113. Aphrododiridae, 104. 534 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. Appendicularidae, 87. Archaesthetism, 505, 513. Archean beds, 83. Archeopteryx, 124. Archipterygium, 91. Archosauria, 114. Arcifera, 64, 65, 70, 71, 196, 197, 389. Arctic Region, 52. Argentina, 357. Arietidae, 189. Artemia, 229, 230, 466. Artemia salina, 229 ; A. muelhauscnii, 229. Arthropoda, 80, 81, 82, 83 172, 25c, 253, 268, 269, 368, 369, 389, 391, 404. Articulations, of Arthropoda, C69 ; of Vertebrata, 275, 287. Artiodactyla, 69, 132, 133, 150, 195, 248, 295. 296, 312, 313, 314, 315. 3i8, 320, 325. 359. 36o, 361, 520. Arvicola, 349, 351. Aryan, 159. Asia, 73. Aspergillum, 265. Astacus, hand of, 274. Atrophy, of incisor teeth, 356; of the ulna and fibula, 355. Australia, 72. Australians, 163, 166. Austroriparian, 29. Avian line, 123. Axis, 196, 199. Axolotl, 58. Bactrites, 187. Baculites, 189, 190. Bain, 494. Baird, S. F., 47. Baker, F. Dr., 4fg. Balcpna mysticetus, 3"53. Ball, W. P., 461, 465, 466. Barber, M. E., 231, 234. Barrande, 185. Barrandeoceras, 413. Batavia, 168. Bather, 192. Bathmic energy, 480. Bathmism, 449, 479, 484. Bathmogenesis, 484, 486. Bathyergus, 349. Batrachia, 87, 88, 89, 91, 94, 95, 97, 98, 108, 115, 1:6, 121, 172, 193, 195, 196, 218, 253, 363, 364, 365, 368, 372, 388. Batrachia, line of the, 108; respira- tion of, 93, 193 ; remains of, no; />. salcntia, 8, 63, 69, 70, 314, 389 ; B. uro- dela, 314. 367. Batrachidae, 107. Baur, G. 115, 366. Bear, 21. Beauchamp. 500. Beard, Dr. £5. Beaume, 129. Beddard, F. E., 238, 240, 292. Beecher, C. E., 10, 176, 191. Bees, 4G3, 465. Belt, 500. Berthollet, 483. Bioplastology, 192. Blastocerus, 196. Blastomeryx, 317. Blindness of cave animals, 241. Boa constrictor, 122. Booidea, 328. Bos, 144 ; B. taunts, 22. Bouchardia, 178, 179. Bovidae, 69, 209, 313, 315- 31?- Brachiopoda, 191. Brachiopodus Mollusca, 58. Bradypus, 313. Bragg, C. L. 244. Brain, vertebrate— development of 94. Branchi7iecta fci-ox, 230; B. media, 230; B. schcejferii, 230; B. spinosa, 230. Branchiostoma, 86, 92. Branco, i£8 Brazil, 462. Breeding, 422, 437. Brehm, 301. Brevicipitidae, 70. Brewer, W. H., 422, 426, 430, 431, 435, 437- Bridger, 139. Brinton, 468. British America, 49. Brooks, 86, 454, 459. Brown, A., 189, 190. Brown-Sequard, 430. Brunn, A. von, 403, 446. Buccinum, 260. INDEX. 535 Buckman, J., 23, 189, 228. Bufonidae, 65, 70, 189, 199, 389. Bumpus, II. C.| 242. Bunotheria, 127, 132, 133, 140, 141, 145. Bushmen, 159. Butterfly, peacock, 232; B., swallow- tailed, 231 ; B., tortoise shell, 232. Caeciliidae, 113, 218. Ceenoceras aratum, 417 ; C. clan sun/, 417; C. intermedium, 417 ; C.linea- tum, 417. Caenogeny, 200, 209. Calamodon, 330. California, 50. Callianassa, 273. Callianassa stimpsonii, 242, 273. Calyptoccphalus gayi D. and B., 68. Cambarus bartonii, 241 ; C. seionii, 241. Cambrian, beds, 83; time, 176. Camelidae, 69. Canidae, 48, 49, 59, 339, 342. Canis, 21, 59; latrans, 48; lupus, 48. Caprimulgidae, izf>. Carbonic, epoch, 99, 101, 108, 184, r88, 416, 417, 418, 419, 420; beds, 77, 363. Cardium, 261. Cariacus, 196. Carnivora, 48, 50, 127, 132, 133, 135, 140, 143, 144, 293, 302, 305, 309, 318, 322, 330, 335. 34°. 343. 346, 360, 361, 379. 388, 519- Carpophyta, 77. Carriere, M., 227. Carter, H. J., 504. Cary, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 402. Cassina, 71. Castor, 351. Castoroides, 330, 349, 351. Castoroides ohioensis, 347, 350. Catagenesis, 202, 211, 475, 479, 51O. Cataplasis, 202. Caterpillars, 230, 525. Causes of variations, 223. Cave animals, 241, 521. Cavia, 348. Caviidae, 351, 352. Cebidae, 155. Cebus apella, 500; ('. capucinus, 5(0. Cell-division, 4S9. Cells, germ, 447, 480; glandular, 440; muscle, 249; nerve, 450, 453 ; repro- ductive, 446, 453 ; somatic, 453, 456. Cenogenesis, 200. Cenozoic, 304, 357, 419, 420. Centetes, 335. Centetidae, 145, 335. Central America, 29, 49, 52. Centrina, 53, 68, 388. Cephalopoda, 8, 182, 183, 192, 218, 405, 40 ', 520. Ceratobatrachidae, 71. Ceratophrys, 71. Cercopithecidae, 469. Cervidae, 51, 69, 196, 315, 317. Cervus, 196, 312. Cervus canadensis, 297; elaphus, 298. Cetacea, 127, 138, 140, 142, 143, 145, 155, 268, 303, 304, 352, 353. 355. 374- Chabry, 458. Chaetodontidae, 107. Chama, 267. Characiniidae, 103. Chelmo, 107. Chelydobatrachus gouldii Gray, 68. Chcmism, 484. Chilonyx, 117. Chimpanzee, elbow-joint of, 295. Chinchillidae, 351, 352. Chirogidae, 324. Chiroptera, 127, 132, 143, 336, 35s. Chiropterygium, 91. Chirox, 325. Chlorophyll, 75. Choloepus, 313. Chondrioderma difforme, 220. Chondrotus tenebrosus, 58, 59. Chprdata, 86, 205, 215, 218. Chorology, 387. Chrysochloi idac, 335. Chrysochloris, 310. Cicindela, variations in, 25. Ciena ititcst inalis, 456. Cladodus, 100. Clarke, 176, 191. Clans, 211. Clepsydropidae, 319. Cliuialins, 92. Cnemidophorus, 199; color-variation of, 41. Cnemidophorus deppei, 41 ; C. gra- 536 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. hanzii, 46; C. gularis, 41, 46, 200; C. costatus, 46; C. scalaris, 46, 200; C. semifasciatus, 43, 46 ; C. mariarum, 41, 45 ; C. sexlineatus, 41, 46 ; C. tes- sellatus, 41, 46; C. melanostethus, 46 ; C. perplexus, 46 ; C. rubidus, 45, 46 ; C. septemvittatus, 46 ; C vario- losus, 46. Coassus, 196. Cobitis, 363. Cobra de capello, 22. Ccelacanthidae, 91. Coelenterata, 79, 81, 82, 83, 250. Ccelogasteroceras canaliculatum , 421. Cohesion, 484. Colaptes auratus, 52. Coleoptera, 203. Colocephali, 104, 106. Coloceras globatu>n, 4, 16. Color changes, in Lepidoptera, 230; in cocoons, 440; in birds, 238 ; in fishes, 499 ; in tree-frogs, 499. Color variations, in the genus Cicin- dela, 25; in Osceola doliata, 29; in Cnemidophorus, 41. Colostethidae, 78. Columba livia, 21. Complementary growth-energy, 248. Conditions of inheritance, 438. Condylarthra, 84, 85, 132, 133, 134, 135, 141, 143, 157, 356, 357. 359. 388. Coniferae, tj. Conscious energy, 507. Consciousness, 495, 505. Consciousness and automatism, 495. Conversion of Artemia into Branchi- ata, 229. Cope, E. D., 8, 528. Copepoda, 211. Cophylidae, 70. Copperhead, 22. Corvus americanus, 52. Coryphodon, 354. Coryphodontidae, 318. Cosoryx, 315, 317. Cosoryxfurcatus, 315 ; C. necatus, 315; C. ramosus, 315 ; C. teres, 315. Cossus ligniperda, 237. Costa Rica, 50. Cotylosauria, 87, 88, 113, 115, 122, 172. Crangon, hand of, 274. Craniomi, 100. Creodonta, 336, 337, 338, 339, 341, 343, 388. Cretaceous, 139, 143, 184,189,419,420, 421, 422. Cricotus crassidiscus, in. Crioceras, 189. Crocodilia, 94, 114, 116. Crocirfa jnaculata, 294. Crossopterygia, 100, 101. Crotalns horridus, 22. Crustacea, 211, 271, 273. Cryptopnoy, 494. Ctenophora, 272. Ctetology, 192. Cunningham, J. L., 238, 527. Cyannriis cristatus, 52. Cyclops, 212. Cyclopterus, 108. Cycloturus, 314. Cyinafoceras elegans, 418. Cy nod ict is geisnturianits, 341. Cynognathidae, 88. Cypraea, 260. Cypraeidae, 261. Cyprinidae, 103. Cyrtoceras, 185, 408, 413. Cystignathidae, 65, 70. 71. CystignatJins pachypus, 390. Dall. W. H., 10, 58, 255, 520, 530, 531. Dama, 196. Darwin, C, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 231, 247, 248, 249, 385. 387. 398, 474. 480. Darwin, E., 10, 505. Daubentonioidea, 128. Degeneracy, 247; in birds, 126; in plants, 76; in reptiles, 122 ; in Crus- tacea, 211 ; in mollusca, 213; in vertebrata, 215. Delphinidae, 303. Deltatherinm fu ndaminis, 335. Dendrobatidae, 70. Dendrophryniscidae, 70. Dentition modification, in Canidae, 59 ; in Felidae, 60 ; in Homo, 60, 61 ; in lemurs, 61 ; in lower placental mammals, 61 ; in monkeys, 61. Depuy, 430. Dercetidae, 104. Descartes, 498. INDEX. 537 Designed action in animals, 500. Devonic period, 77, 91, 101, 172, 184, 186, 188, 362, 415, 420, 422. Diadectidae, 89. Diadiaphorus, 359. Dibamidae, 123. Dicrocerus, 315. Didelphodus, 335. Didymium squamulosum, 220. Digits, number of, 309. Dimorphodon, 120. Dimya, 267. Dinocerata, 314, 315, 356. Dinosauria, 98, 114, 116, 120, 121, 122, 304. 3/2. Dioplotherium, 330. Diplarthra, 84, 128, 133, 136, 143, 144, 146, 293, 295, 297, 300, 302, 305, 306, 312, 313, 320, 332, 360, 403. Diplogenesis, 12, 441, 443, 470. Dipneusta, 89. Dipnoi, 89, 99. Diprodontidae, 143. Diptera, 203, 204. Dipus, 361. Disciniscus, 177. Dissacus, 302. Disuse in Mammalia, 352. Dog-opossum, 22. Dohrn, 204. Dolichotis, 361 ; D. patachonica, 305. Dollo, 121. Domestic fowls, 21. D'Orbigny, 417. Dorypterus, 103. Driesch, 457. DuBois, Dr., 159, 168, 169. Dumeril, 58. Dynamical evolution, 524. Dyscophidae, 70. Dysodus, 59, 146. Echidermata, 368. Echinodermata, 80, 81, 82, 83. Echinus, 457. Ectal mastication, 318. Edaphoceras, 186. Edentata, 127, 132, 133, 138, 141, 143, 145, 186, 195, 303, 305, 310, 356, 360. Education, 505. Eels, 103. Effect of feeding on color in birds, 238. Effect of light on the colors of flat- fishes, 238. Effects of consciousness, 509. Efficient cause, 10, 497, 498. Eigenmann, C, 244. Eimer, 23, 45, 252, 254, 527. Elasmobranchii, 91, 94, 95, 99. Elasmotherium, 314. Elbow-joint, of Ce-nnis elaphus, 296; of chimpanzee, 295 ; of horse, ab- normal, 278 ; human, abnormal, 277. Elephas, 145, 330, Elliot, D. G., 531. Elosia nasus Licht, 68. Embolomeri, 88, 109, no. Embryology, 202, 209, 401. Embryonic variations, 444. Emphytogenesis, 486. Endoceras, 186. Endolobus, 186; E. excaz'atmti, 417. Energies, specific, 480. Energy, 448, 451, 506, 507, 512 ; synop- tic table of, 484; anagenetic, 478, 484; definition of, 473; of evolu- tion, 473 ; catagenetic, 479, 484 ; cor- relation of, 506 ; inorganic, 475, 484, 512 : composition of, 490. Engystomidae, 70. Enhydra, 352. Ental mastication, 318. Entoconcka mirabilis, 213. Environment, physical influences of, 436, 452, 475. Eocene, 61, 104, 135, 138, 139, 142, 145, 145- 147. 150, 154. I55> 173. 205, 304. 365. 377- Epigenesis, 13. Epihippus, 147, 148, Epilasmia, 107. Epilepsy in Cavia, 430. Equidae, 313. Equilibrium, 508. Equus, 145, 149, 359; E. caballns,^, 300. Ergogenesis, 486. Erinaceus, 127. Erismatopterus, 104. Etyops megaccpalus, 371. Esquimaux, 61, 153. 538 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. Esthonyx, 329. Eudoceratidae, 186. Euprotogonia, 147. Europe, 55, 160, 426, 427. Europeans, 166. Europeo-Americans, 153. Eurypharyngidae, 104. Ensophus nebulosus Gir, 68. Eusthcnoptcron foordii, 91 . Eutaenia, 63 ; E. saurita, 21; E. sirta- lis, 21, 63. Eutheria, 373. Evolution, science of, 22. Expression points, 25. Faxoe, 418. Feet of Chinese women, 399. Felidae, 48, 49, 145, 342. Felis, 339. Fcli's concolor, 49; F. domestica, 21; F. pardalis, 50. Fellahs, 163. Ferns, 77. Fick, R., 283. 284, 286, 377, 528. Firmisternia, 64, 70, 71, 196, 197, 389, 390. Fisher, 91, 99, 101, 104. Fishes, ancestral type of, 86, 91, 99. Fistularia, 104. Flatfishes, 238. Flexure, 368. Florida, 52, 56. Flossensaum, 243. Forel, 463. Forsyth- Major, 334, 469. Fraipont, 160, 161, 165, 166, 170. France, 83, 170. 315. Friction, 279, 519, 378, 490. Fuligo, 503. Functions of consciousness, 495. Fungi, 70, 219. Furcifer, 197. Fusus parilis, 257. Gage, 363. Galeopithecus, 328. Gallinae, 391. Gallus sp., 2i. Galton, Dr., 12, 471. Ganocephali, no. Garman, S., 241. Garter-snake, 21. Gasterosteidae, 104. Gastraea theory, 202. Gastrechmia, 63. Gastropoda, plaits in shell of, 255. Gazella dorcas, 301. Gebia, 273. Gecconidae, 73, 88, 122. Gegenbaur, 91, 3C6. Gelocus, 312. Genealogy, of man, 171 ; of the horse, 146. Genesiology, 192. Geomyidae, 352. Giard, 527. Glauconiidae, 121. Gleditschia, 228. Glires, 51, 127, 132, 133, 135. 141. 143, 305, 318, 324, 328, 329, 330, 331, 334, 345. 346, 360, 361, 4°4- Glochidia, 203. Glossophaga, 328. Glossophaginae, 356. Gloxinia, 384. Glyptodontidae, 303. Gobius, 499. Goethe, 247. Gonagenic variations, 444. Goniatitinac, 186, 187, 188, 422. Gravitation, 484. Growth-energy, 449, 473 ; G. force, 484. Gulick, 388. Gulo luscus, 50. Giinther, 123, 390. Gvvynia, 178, 179. Gymnosperms, 79. Gyroceras, 185. Haeckel, E., 7, 8, 85, 88, 89, 154, 169, 175, 201, 202, 387, 448, 454. Halicore, 330, 336. Hall, 176. Halloceras, 1S6. Hamites, 189. Hapalidae, 141. Haplodoci, 106, 107. Haplomi, 103, 104, 106. Harpa, 261. Hawaiian Islands, 388. Heliotropism, 503. INDEX. 530 Hemibranchii, 104, 106. Hemimanus, 71. Hemiphractidae, 71. Henke, 277, 283, 528. Henslow, G., 23, 226, 227, 228, 383, 384, 527. Herdman, 215. Heredity, 398. Hering, 492. Hertwig, 456, 457. Hesperornithidae, 124. Heteroglossa, 71. Heterologous series, 71. Heteromorphosis, 455. Heterosomata, 105, 10G. Hilgard, S. W., 433. Hinnites, 267. Hippocampidae, 105. Hippopotamidae, 69. Hippopotamus, 330, 402. Hippotherium, 84, 149, 359; H, medi- terraneum, 84. H6ftding,498. Holocephali, 99. Holoptychiidae, 91. Holostei, 101, 102. Holostomi, 106. Hominidae, 157. Homo, 155, 158, 169, 170. Homogeneous series, 71. Homogeny, 72. Homologous, series, 71. Homology, 19. Homo neanderthalensis, 170; //. sa- piens, 170; H. erect us, 169. Homoplassy in Mammalia, 72, 357. Homoplastic series, 71. Hoplobatrachus, 71. Horn, G. H., 25, 29. Horns, 314 ; of Cervus elaphits, 197. Horse, evolution of trotting, 426; H. phylogeny of, 146, 522. House-fly, 254. Hunger, 504. Hurst, C. H., 205, 207. H titer, 251, 275. 276, 331. Huxley, 89, 99, 476. Hyaenidae, 145, 342, 3^3- Hyaenodon, 343. Hyatt, A., 8, 9, 10, 175, 182, 183, 201, 202, 266, 268, 405, 420, 451, 520, 528, 529. 53o, 531. Hybodus, 372. Hybopsis b/guttatus, 22. Hydroids, 82. Hydrotropism, 501. Hyla, 11, 198, 199 ; H .carol tm-n sis, 499; H. gratiosa, 499. Hylella, 71, 198, 199. Hylidae, 65, 70, 198. Hylobates, 159. Hymen, 399. Hymenoptera, 82, 203. Hyopotamus, 312. Hyperolius, 71. Hypothesis of the origin of the divi sions of the Vertebrata, 362. Hypsiboas donmercii D. and B., 63; H. punctatus Schu., 68. Hyracoidea, 132, 133, 141, 143. 332. Hyracotheriinae, 313. Hyracotherium, 147, 148, 302. Hystricidae, 351. Ibacus, 274. Ichthyocephali, 106. Ichthyopterygia, 113, 116, 121. Ichthyornithidae, 124. Ichthyosaurus, 121. Ichthyotomi, 100. Icichthys, 108. Icosteus, 108. Iguanidae, 73. Impact, 277, 284, 287, 291, 302, 305, 311, 485- Impressed zone of the nautiloids, 405. Increase of size through use, 304. India, 159. Indo-Europeans, 153. Inexact parallelism, 2CO. Influence, of external stimulus on mo- tions of animals, 496; of the mental condition of the mother on the foe- tus, 434, 451 ; of mind on coloration, 499; of mind on matter, 498. Infusoria, 79, 511. Inheritance, of acquired characters, 401, 405 ; of characters due to dis- ease, 430; conditions of 438, 440, of exercise of function, 426; of nm- 540 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. tilation and injuries, 399, 431 ; of nutrition, 423 ; of regional influ- ences, 435, 440. Insecta, 213, 226. Insectivora, 136, 140, 143, 305, 332, 336, 361. Intelligence, animal, 500, 504. Introduction, 1. Ischyromys typus, Leidy, 351. Ismenia, 178, 179. Isolation, 387. Isospondyli, 103, 106. Jackson, R. T., 10, 191, 261, 520, 531. Jaeger, 10. Japanese spaniel, 60. Java, 160. Java man, 169. Jayne, H. Dr., 60. Jordan, Dr., 101. Joseph, Dr., 242. Judgment, 504, 506. Juglans nigra, 466; J. regia, 466. Jura, 122, 139, 140, 142, 143, 184, 188, 417, 418, 419, 420, 421. Katabolism, 481. Kinetobathmism, 485. Kinetogenesis, 225, 246, 287, 375, 496 ; in Mammalia, 288; in Mollusca, 255; of muscle, 249; objections to the theory of, 375 ; of osseous tis- sue, 275; under impact and strain, 519; under use in Vermes and Ar- thropoda, 268 ; in Vertebrata, 275. Kingsley, J. S.,89, 213. Koelliker, Dr., 285, 331, 377, 381. Kovvalevsky, 323. Kiikenthal, 333. Lacerta muralis, 45, 195 ; L. in. albi- ventrz's, 46 ; L. 111. campestris, 46 ; L. 111. maculostriata, 46; L. in. punctu- latofasciata, 46; L. in. reticulata, 46 ; L. m. striatomaculata, 46 ; L. 111. tigris, 46. Lacertilia, 88, 116, 120, 121, 122, 123, 218, 314, 372. Lamarck, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12, 14, 241, 387, 497- Lamellibranchs, 261. Lankester, E. R , 71, 113. Laramie, 139. Larvacea, 215. Law of the unspecialized, 172. Law, Prof., 431. Lawrence, 426, 427. Laws of organic evolution, 3. Laws of structural relations, 19. Leidy, Professor, 351. Lemur collaris, 326. Lemuridae, 155, 328, 339, 356, 469. Lemuroids, 157. Lemurs, 61, 150, 154, 155, 156. Leperditia, 262. Lepidoptera, 203, 204, 237, 440, 441. Leporidae, 348. Leptodactylus pentadactylus, Laur., 390. Lepus, 351, 361 ; L. sylvaticus, 53. Lerncea branchialis, 212. Lernasapoda, 212. Lesshaft, 277. Liege, 160. Life, definition of, 513. Light effect, of, on flatfishes, 238. Lima, 266. Limbs, moulding of articulations of, 287; vertebrate segmentation 0^367. Line of the pisces, 99. Lingula, 176, 177. Liocephalus, 391. Liopeplum, 260. List of papers by American authors on the law of kinetogenesis, 528. Litopterna, 357, 359. Lituites, 414 Loeb, 455. Lohest, 160, 161, 165, 166, 168, 170. Lophiodontidae, 355. Lophobranchii, 105, 106. Louisiana, 50. Loup fork, 139, 148, 315. Lucius estor, 21 ; L. nobilior, 21 ; L. vermiculatus, 21. Lytoceratinae, 190. Macacus, 391. Machrauchenia, 359. Mackenzie River, 50. Magas, 178, 179. Magasella, 179. IXDEX. 541 Magellania, 178, 179. Magosphaera, 102, Malacopterygia, 102, 103, 104. Mammalia, characters of, 93 ; line of the successional modifications of the feet and digits of, 133 ; verte- brae of, 135; dentition of, 135; phy- logeny of, 138 ; origin of, 87; brain and nervous system of, 144. Man of Spy, 161. Maori, 168. Marey, 491. Marseniidae, 261. Marsh, 122, 123, 156, 174, 304. Marsipobranchs, 94, 95, 192, 193, 204. Marsupialia, 127, 132, 138, 142, 143, 157. 305, 309. 336, 361, 374- Mastodonsaurus, 117. Maupas, 79, 459. Mead, T. H., 31. Mechanical, causes of dental modifi- cations, 319 ; conditions of segmen- tation in Arthropoda, 269; origin of characters in Pelecypoda, 261 ; origin of the impressed zone in Cephalopoda, 261. Megerlina, 178, 179. Melanesians, 154. Meldola, Prof., 231, 234. Meleagris gallopavo, 21. Alcniscoessus conquistus, 325. Meniscotherium, 156. Menodontidae, 355. Mental, evolution, 510; degeneracy, 509; processes, 506. Menuridae, 126. Merospondyli, 106, 372. Merrifield, 230. Merychochce7-2; R. tcii/poraria, 64. Ranidae, 65, 70, 71, 389. Rapkanus raphanistrum L., 227; R. sattz'us L., 227. Recapitulation, 453, 492. Reduction of digits, 309. Regeneration, 455. Reptiles, degeneracy of the eye of INDEX, 545 219; degeneracy of the limbs of, 21S; degeneracy in the skeletal structure of, 122; development of the brain of, 122 ; line of, 113; suc- cessive changes in the structure of the skull of, 116 ; vertebral articu- lation of, 121. Reptilia, 88, 94, 95, 98, no, 114, 116, 120, 122, 132, 172, 193, 195, 209, 218, 289. 303. 304, 363. 365. 366, 374. 388. Retardation, 9, 201. Retrogressive evolution in the Verte- brata, 145. Reyher, 277. Rhinoceros, 313. 314. Rkinocerus unicornis, 300. Rhipidopterygia, 91, 100, 101, 172, 366. Rhizopoda, 249. Rhynchocephalia, 114, 116. Rhynchocyonidae, 305. Rhytina, 331. Riley, C. V., 531. Rodentia, 135, 519. Romanes, vi, 471. Rose, 333. Roux, W., 283, 284. Rusa, 196. Ryder, J. A., 79, 309, 311, 319, 320, 321, 323, 346, 349, 366, 404, 455, 485, 486, 518, 519, 520, 521, 529, 530, 531, 532. Salamandra, 199. Salientia, 109, no, 172, 196, 197. Sandberger, 188. San Diego, 244. Sarcothraustes, 335. Saturnia, 466. Saturniidae, 203. Sauermann, Dr., 239, 240. Sauropterygia, 115, 116. Sauvage, Dr., 372. Scaphiopidae, 65. Scafihiopus Iiolbrookii, 68. Scaridae, 108. Schismaderma carens Smith, 68. Schizocrania, 177. Schmankewitsch, V., 230. Schools of evolutionary doctrine, 13. Schuchert, 191. Scincidae, 123. Sciuridae, 351. Scombridae, 108. Scott, W. B., 222, 334. 526, 53i. 532. Scudder, S., 465. Scyphophori, 106. Scytopis, 198, 199. Sectorial teeth, 139. Sedgwick, 492. Seeley, 88, 120, 123. Segmentation of the external skele- ton of the Arthropoda, 269 ; origin of, 368. Segmentation of the vertebral col- umn, 368 ; origin of, 368. Selenodont dentition, 320; origin of, 323- Self-consciousness, 495. Semper, 228, 242, 527. Sense perception, 495. Sensation, 495, 513. Serranidae, 108. Sex, 516. Sexual selection, 389. Sharp, B., 269, 531. Shetland pony, 423. Shipka, 161, 163. Shoulder girdles of Anura, 64. Sigaretus, 261. Siluric, 77, 83, 183, 185, 186, 187, 413, 414. Siluridae, 103. Simia, 159, 170. Simiidae, 157, 158. Siphocyprtea problematica, 260. Siredon lichenoides, 200 ; S. mexica- num, 59. Sirenia, 127, 142, 143, 145, 329, 330, 352, 360. Skull, of man of Spy, 161 ; of Neander- thal man, 162. S»iilodon neog&us, 344. Solenhofen slates, 123. Sonoran, 29. South America, 50, 154. Sloths, 305. Spain, 437. Spiii hammondii inter mont ana, 68. Spencer, H., 5, 6, 7, 175, 367. 3«5. 466, 476, 517. 5i8. 527- Sphenodon, 121. Spinous plants, 228. Spondylus, 267. 546 PRIMARY FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. Sponges, 80. Sports, influence of, 24 Spy, 159, 161, 163, 164, 165, 166, 169, 170. Squamata, 114, 115, 116. Squillidae, 273. Stahl, E., 501. Starch, 481. Statogenesis, 485, 496. Stegocephali, 88, 109, 172. Stegophilus, 103. Stentor, 250. Stereognathus, 325. Stevenson, C, 432. Strain, 305, 311, 313. 3*9. 326, 327. 349. 281, 485, 519, 521. Strepsiptera, 213. Streptostylica, 114. Sturnella magna, 52. Stypolophus, 335. Stypolophus ivhitice, 339. Successional relation, 19, 62. Suidae, 69. Suo'fdea, 318, 324. Sus, 330. Symphysis mandibuli of a, chimpan- zee, 164; gorilla, 164; liegois, 166; orang, 164; Parisian, 166; Spy man, 164 ; Spy woman, 164. Synagodus, 59. Synapta digit at a, 213. Systems of evolution, 13. Table of the characters of the mam- malian skeleton, 139. Tachyglossus, 135. Taeker, 195. Tahitian, 168. Tapir, 313. Tapiridae, 318. Tarsipes, 146. Tarsius, 155, 306. Taxeopoda, 128, 136, 146, 297, 357; car- pus of, Ta.xidea amcricana, 50. Teeth, evolution of, 318, 522. Teidae, 123. Teleology, 20. Teleostomata, 91, 99, roo, 101, 336. Tellkampf, Dr., 241. Terebratellidae, 178, 179, 180. Termites, 500. Tertiary, 184, 291, 421. Testudinata, 114, 115, 116, 119, 123. Texas, 50, 436. Theory of internal causes, 527. Theory of use and disuse, 3. Theriodonta, 115, 116. Thermochemistry, 483. Theromora, 88, 114, 115, 116, 120, 121, 132. Thoatherium, 359. Thoraceras, 186. Thoropa miliaris Sphix, 68. Thylacinus cynocephalns, 22. Tillodonta, 140, 143, 145, 329, 360. Tomes, 381. Totiiitherium rostratum Cope, 156. Topinard, P., 153, 155, 157, 168, 165. Tornier, E., 283, 284, 528. Tortoises, 114. Tortricidae, 123. Toxodontia, 128, 143, 297. 330, 360, 382. Trachycephalus, 198. Trachypteridae, 108. Trachystomata, 109, in. Tragulidae, 69. Traquair, 99. Trias, 108, 113, 135, 184, 209, 325, 417. Triboloceras, 186. Trichea variety 220. Triconodon Owen, 343. Triconodontidae, 318. Trichophanes, 104. Tridacna, 265. Trilobita, 83. Trimen, R., 231. Trinil, man of, 159, 168, 169, 170. Trionychidae, 303. Tripteroceras, 186. Tristichopteridae, 91. Trityloden, 325. Trivia, 260. Trotting horses, 426. Troglocaris, 242. Tubularia mesembryanthemumy 456. Tunicata, 172, 214, 218, 362. Turbot, 499. Tyndall, Prof., 476. Typhlogeophis, 123. Typhlogobius, 244. LXDEX. 547 Unconsciousness, 494, 507. Uinta, 147. Uintatherium, 354. Uintatheriidae, 318. Uma, 73. Unguiculata, 140, 143, 374. Ungulata, 138, 140, 142, 143, 147, 205, 248, 295, 297, 302, 321, 330, 340. 353. 355. 357. 361, 374. 39o; origin of, 209. Unionidae, 203. United States, 49, 53, 315. Urochorda, 82. Urodela, 109, no, 172. Uropeltidae, 123. Uroplates, 88. Ursus arctos, 21, 22 ; U. maritimus, 21. Unspecialized, doctrine of, 173. Use and disuse, doctrine of, 9. Vandellia, 103. Vanessa io, 232; V. urticae, 232. Variation, 21. Variation, of basal lobes of leaves, 5; causes of, 225; in cicindela, 25; cnemidophorus, 41 ; embryogenic, 444 ; fortuitous, 444 ; gamogenic, 444; geographical, 47; gonagenic, 444; in North American birds and mammals, 45; origin of, 225, 497; ontogenetic, 444 ; in Osceola doliata, 29; phylogenetic, 444. Variations, of specific characters, 25 ; somatogenic, 444 ; structural char- acter, 58. Varigny, 229. Vermes, 80, 81, 82, 83, 172, 263, 268, 368, 437. Vertebral centra, forms of, 302. Vertebrata, brain and nervous sys- tem of, 94, 139; classification of, 93; circulating system of, 93, 192, origin of, 81 ; phylogeny of, 81. Vestinautilus, 186. Vilmorin, 228. Virchow, Prof., 159. 169, 467. Vise, 416. Vol a, 266. Volutidae, 260. Volutimorpha, 260. Volvox, 79. V0111 Rath, 470, 471. Von Baer, 175. Von Brunn, 403. l'ul/>es alopex, 48; /'. cinereoargenta- tus 48 ; / ". lagopus, 48 ; / ". velox, 48. Wallace, A. R., 3, 5, 228, 381, 383, 387, 391, 392, 466. Ward, L., 531. Wasatch, 139, 146. 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