The San Antonio light. (San Antonio, Tex.) 1883-1886, 1884-01-15
ABOUT WHALES.
The Obscure hut Important Problem Of
Their Origin-The Hxisting and
Fossil Species.

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Their Origin Tho Existing and
Fossil Species.
The President OF the Geological society,
Professor w. II. Fowler, LII. D., F. r. s.,
on Thursday night delivered at the London
institute, profusely illustrated and in all re-
spects most interesting lecture on "Whales,"
in which he took a survey Of the existing and
fossil species, with view to some sort Of So
luton Of the obscure but important problem
of their origin. 1t needed no great foresight,
he said, to forecast their more or less speedy
improvement out of existence. But what was
their probable origini In the first place, the
evidence was absolutely conclusive that they
we're not originally aquatic, but sprung from
land mammals Of the placential division,
animals with hairy covering, and with sense
organs, especially that Of smell, adapted for
living on land; animals. moreover, with four
completely developed pairs Of limbs on
the type Of the higher vertebrstes, and
not that Of fishes. Their now simple
homodont and monophyodont teeth had evil
IDENTIFY degraded from more perfect type.
But the great difficulty was in determining the
particular group Of mammals whence the
whale family (cetacea) arose. One Of the
methods by which land mammal might have
changed into an aquatic one, was clearly
shown in still surviving stages among the car
niyores. The seals were obviously nodhca-
tons Of the land csrnivores, the sea-lions and
sea-besrs being curiously intermediate. Many
naturalist had been tempted to deem the
whales still farther stage ola like modisca-
ton. But there was fatal objection TO this
view, as was shown. 1t was far more reason
able to regard whales as derived from animals
with large tails, which were used in swimming,
to such effect at last that the hind limbs were
no longer needed. and so at length dis
appeared. The powerful tail, with side
Asnpes Of skin Of the Pteroneura Sand
bachii, an American species Of otter, or
the beavers tail, might give Sc me idea
Of primitive cetscean. As pointed out
long ago by Hunter, there are many points in
the structural organization OF the cetacean
viscera far more like those Of the ungulates
than the carnivores, such as the complex
stomach, simple liver, respiratory organs, and
especially the reproductive organs, and struc-
lures relating to the development OF the
young. Though there was, perhaps, gener-
ally more error than truth in popular ideas in
natural history, the lecturer said he could not
help thinking some insight had been shown
in the common names attached to the most
familiar cetsceans by those enjoying the best
opportunities Of knowing its nature. The
names we're the sea-hog, sea-pig, or herring
hog, Of our 6shernen, the equivalent meer-
schwein Of the Germans, corrupted into the
French "marswuin," just as We had short
ened the French "Porcpoisson into "por-
pose." The difficulty that might be
suggested in the derivation Of the ceteceans
or whale family from upgulates, arising from
the latter being mostly vegetable feeders, was
not great, as the earliest ungulates were most
likely omnivorous, like their progeny, the
pigs, now, and the aquatic branch might easily
have gradually become more and more pis-
civorous. The audience might picture TO
themselves some primitive, generslized,
marsh hunting animals, with scant hair. like
the modern hippopotamus. but with broad
swimming tails and short limbs, omnivorous
in their mode of feeding, probably combining
water plants with mussels, worms, and fresh
water crustaceans, gradually becoming more
and more adapted to fill the void place ready
for them on the water side of the
borderland on which they dwelt, and
so by degrees becoming modified into
dolphin-like creatures inhabiting the lakes
and rivers, and at last finding their way into
the ocean. There the disappearance of the
huge enallosaurians, the ichthyosaurians, and
the plesiossurians, which formerly played
the part the cetaceans did now, had
left them ample scope. Favored by various
conditions of temperature and climate, wealth
Of food supply, almost complete immunity
from deadly enemies, and wide waterly fields
to roam in, they had undergone the various
notifications tracesble in the evolution Of the
cetacean species, existing and fossil, and by
slow degrees grew to that colossal size, which,
as they had seen, was not always an attribute
OF the whale family.-[London Times.