Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-06-17
ANIMALS TOO RICH.
SOME OF THEM HAVE MORE sDvsN-
TAGES THAN THEY NEED.

AN
SOME OF THEM HAVE MORE ADvsN-
TAGeS THAN THEY NEED.
How Evolution Has Affected Certain Spc-
cies-Fross Arc Poorly Equipped. Yet
They Get o Living EasiIy-Cats Lead tn,
Predatory Glasses.
Certain snakes Of medium sizo carry
the most deadly weapon, whether OF Of
Tense or defense, owned by any animal.
In addition they have the perfect YER
tebrate structure which Sir Richard
Owen SO much admired, and can there
fore swim, climb and make their way
in places where no other animal of SIM
ilar size can CO. They are the best
e. uippod animals Of their kind. Side
by sito with these arc foand snakes Of
similar size and equal powers, except
that they lack tho invincible lethal
weapon. They only carry blank car
tridges in the battle Of Lfc. Evolution
Eeems arrested for no reason. They not
only fail to grow the poison tooth, bat
do not develop the power Of crushing
their prey as tho constructors do. 1t
would be far easier for II common grass
snake to kill q frog by poison before
eating it, as the cobra does, than to
have to swallow it alive. II would save
It trouble to crush it. as youns bca
constructor Of the same size would do,
but it does Ecither. because it neither
has developed. nor seems i'll tho least
likely to develop. tho necessary equip
ment for 50 doing.
By the theory Ct evolution tho grass
snake ought therefore to 60 back in the
world, while the other common English
snake, Tie poisonous viper, armed with
q weapon, powerful as u protection and
means Of killing prey, increased in
size and numbers and tool, its place.
Yet this is exactly what has not hap
pened Grass snakes ere larger and more
numerous than adders, and there is no
evidence that the absence Ct the poison
fanss in any way cndarGers the survival
Of the species.
1t is difficult to account for the eb
sence Of any visible failure III life Of in
sect feeding creatures competing fer eX-
istcrce on the same food, but with such
unequal physical means for obtaining it
as aro possessed by the swallow, the
ma,moset, the shrew, the chameleon
and the frog. In this list of five creas-
lures living upon similar food we find
that the physical appliances for obtain
ing it range from the perfect develop
ment Of speed III flight in the swallow,
the addition Of hands for capture i'll the
marmcset, bodily quickness and activity
In the shrew. the power Of assuming
color exactly similar to that Of environ
ment In the chameleon. supplemented
by q special apparatus for shooting cut
| the tongue and capturing insects when
| notionless, to the absence Of any special
equipment at all, except that Of a rather
| long tongue, in the insect eating frog.
Yet the frog. destitute Of all these
specialized appliances. lives just rs well
as the swallow, the shrew, the marmo-
set or the chameleon, and at least one
species, the barking frog. finds that to
get on III the world II has only to be
sill and wait till creatures walk into
its mouth. 1t has acquired q skin color
suited to its environment ard q large
| mouth But it is not, and could never
be, considered we'll provided for getting
its living.
Our estimate of the physical means
| end appliances necessary fer the survival
| and we'll being Of animals is probably
set too high. We judge the needs Of all
from the perfect development and ac-
! quired powers Of many. perhaps CT
| most, which evolution has provided
! with appliances in excess Of their real
o1c n,,fy
Evolution has run riot and provided
| them with means and metal far in ex-
cess Of their needs. just rs it has provid-
ed them with an exuberance Of orna-
ment which delights us, but must al
ready have passed beyond animal COM
prehensiOn.
Probably the cats, great and small,
would at once bo named as the best
equipped of all classes of predatory
creatures, and the predatory creatures are
by necessity superior in most forms Of
physique to those on which they prey.
They are all built" OH one plan, with
q special armament CT teeth, sheaths to
keep their claws sharp. muscles for
springing suddenly to great distances,
padded feet to dcaden the sound of their
movements and color adapted for con-
cealment. These acquired appliances are
in excess Of their wants.
The polar bear, which cannot spring
and has no sheaths for its claws, and
has little obvious provision to aid it in
swimming, catches and kills animals
larger than those killed by the tiger and
can kill them in the water. The VOL
verene, or glutton, which is heavy, slow
and has the feet Of ferret, gets its liv-
ing a. O carnivorous animal no less we'll
than the tiger cats, which have a far
more specialized equipment for their
work.
There il actual evidence from the fos-
sil bones Of tigers that this excess Of
equipment once went further and has
been discarded as superHuous. An ex-
tinct species developed canine teeth Of
such enormous size that IL has been
named the ''saber toothed tiger" The
teeth were too long for its jaws, and the
modern species use shorter weapons,
just as modern ironclads are provided
with lighter guns. The curling tusks oi
some Of the mammoths and the palmated
ho,,,c ~< xka Tr;cl, oh xr,o~o alc<> ~, evcocc