The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1896-06-09
ANIMALS TOO RICH.
SOME OF THEM HAVE MORE ADvAN-
TAGES THAN THEY NEED.

They Get Living EAsiIy-cats Lead the
Predatory Glasses.
Certain snakes of medium size carry
tine most deadly weapon. whether of Of
Tense or defense, owned by any animal
In addition they have the pe@ feet 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
liar size can go. They are the best
equipped animals Of their kind. Side
by side with these are found snakes Of
similar size and equal powers, except
that they lack the invincible lethal
weapon. They only carry blank car
tridges in the battle of life. Evolution
seems arrested for no reason. They not
only fail to grow the poison tooth, but
do not develop the power of crushing
their prey as the constructors do. IL
would be far easier for a common grass
snake to kill 4 frog by poison before
eating it, as the cobra does, than to
have to swallow it alive. 1t would save
it trouble to crush it, as "a young boa
constructor Of the same size would do,
but it does neither, because 1t neither
has developed, nor seems in the least
likely to develop. the necessary equip
ment for so doing.
BY the theory Of evolution the grass
snake ought therefore to so back i'll the
world, while the other common English
snake, the poisonous viper, armed with
a weapon, powerful as a protection and
a means of killing prey, increased in
size and numbers and took its place.
Yet this is exactly what has not hap
pened. Grass snakes are larger and more
numerous than adders, and there is no
evidence that the absence of the poison
fargs III any way endangers the survival
of the species.
1t is difficult to account for the alb
sence Of any visible failure in life Of in
sect feeding creatures competing for ex-
istence on the same food, bat with such
unequal physical means for obtaining it
as are possessed by the swallow, the
marmoset, the shrew, the chameleon
and the frog. In this list of five crea-
lures living upon similar food we find
that the physical appliances for obtain
ing it range from the perfect develop
ment Of speed in flight i'll the swallow,
the addition of hands for capture in the
marmuset, bodily quickness and activity
i'll the shrew, the power of assuming
! color exactly similar to that Of environ
ment il the chameleon, supplemented
/ by a special apparatus for shooting out
| the tongue and capturing insects when
! motioLless, TO the absence of any special
equipment 1T all, except that Of a rather
| long tongue, i'll the insect eating frog.
Yet the frog, destitute of all these
specialized appliances, lives just as well
rs the swallow, the shrew, the mar1nO-
set or the chameleon, and at least one
81, cios, the barking frog, finds that to
get on in the world it has only to be
still and wait till creatures walk into
its mouth. 1t has acquired a skin color
suited to its environment and a large
mouth. But it is not, and could never
be, considered we'll provided for getting
its living.
Oar estimate of the physical means
and appliances necessary for the survival
and well being Of animals is probably
set too high. We judge the needs of all
from the perfect development and nc
quired powers Of many, perhaps Of
most, which evolution has provided
with appliances in excess of their real
wants. Most animals are overequipped.
Evolution has run riot and provided
them with means and metal far in ex-
cess Of their needs, Just as it has provid-
ed them with an exuberance of orna-
mcnt which delights us, but must al
ready have passed beyond animal COM
prehension.
Probably the cats, great and small
would at once be named as the best
equipped of all classes of Predatory
creatures, and the predatory creatures are
by necessity superior in most forms Of
physique 70 those on which they prey
They are all built" on one plan, with
a special armament Of teeth, sheaths 10
keep their claws sharp, muscles for
springing suddenly to great distances,
padded feet to deaden 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 il 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 as carnivOrous animal no less well
than the tiger cats, which have a far
more specialized equipment for their
work.
There is actual evidence from the fos-
sill bones of tigers that this excess Of
equipment once went further and has
been discarded as superfluous An ex-
tinct species developed canine teeth Of
such enormous size that it has been
named the ''saber tSothed tiger. " The
teeth We're too long for It's jaws. and the
modern species use shorter weapons,
Just as modern ironclads are provided
/ with lighter or1,nc Tho c,,r1;,r. .,.-t-- -