The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1902-01-03
ANCESTOR OF THE WHALE.
The Amphibinn's P~rOgenitor Was .
Terrestrial Monster Clad
with I'M

Among the many wonderful palae-
theological discoveries hat have star
lied the scientific world during the
asst few wears, none has caused more
establishment than the revelation that
the ancestral whales were protected
from attack by a bony armor analo-
gous to that with which the ~arnadillos
Of South Africa are covered.
Vestiges of this ancient coat of mail
are still borne by such familiar ceta-
ceans as the porpoise and its n%earrela-
tive. the Japanese porpoise. the latter
species being distinguished by its abb
sence Of a back-fin. That creatures
ike the modern pelagic whales and
porpDises. or even the river dolphins,
could ever have been invested With a
complete bony armor is, Of course, an
absolute impossibi.ity. says a scien-
tiic journal. The rightly of such a
panoply would have interfered far too
much with the mobility Of their sup
pie bodies, while its weight would have
impaired their ~buoyancy. Consequent
~. il is necessary TO assume that even
in the earlier representatives OF these
types the armor must have been in a
condition Of degradation and elimina-
ton. so that we must go back TO stall
earlier forms 10 find il in its full de-
velopment.
As every one knows nowadays,
whales and dolphins trace their ances-
try to land animals, and 1t appears
highly likely that when such ancestral
creatures began TO take to an amphib-
ious life on the seashore, or at the
mouth Of a large river, they may have
developed a dermal armor which
would serve 10 project them alike
from the breakers and from the at
tacks Of sharks and other marine mon
sters.
The majority of the living toothed
whales are finished with n dorsal fin.
The function Of the dorsal fin is to act
as a kind of keel in maintaining the
balance of the body, this appendage
being most developed in purely pelagic
cetaceans like the killer. while in lit
toral or fuviatile forms. such as the
narwhal. the white whale and tie Jap
iHt~t NOI lOA~ts III ~ NAAAf 1tht
bones. among which the dorsol fin is
either small or wanting. its function
NAV be discharged by the keel. or,
owing to corporal bulk, no such
function is required at all.
In their earliest stage Of develop
ment the toothed whales were fully
armored. The object Of the armor
was n defense against enemies. such as
sharks. such an armor being also very
valuable to animals exposed to the
force of a strong surf on rocky shores
As the creatures took more and more
TO an aquatic life. the acquisition d
greater speed would he of greater
value to them. and this would be &C
complished by diminishing the specific
gravity and friction Of the body. ant
shortening Of the extremities and III,
development Of n caudal fin TO serve al
the instrument Of locomotion.
Accordingly the arm would yer.
soon he lost by the pelagic ~cetaceanl
in order TO diminish friction and light
en- the specific gravity. Only amonI
certain types. which diverged at al
early epoch from the ancestral stool
and took 10 a fuviatile or %estuarin
life. did vestiges of the rmo persist
while the dorsal fin remained undevel
oped. That in this form as well as il
the closely allied true porpoises "
have the most primitive type of Twin.
toothed whales. is confirmed by tn
nature Of their dentition. as well as b,
the circumstance that in this grou
alone the premaxilla is toothsd.