The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-09-27

determined direction, which gave them
all something in common. Australia
was the land of the 1ink-forms, the
forms which lined great groups to
each other.
In common practice we distinguish
between five chief classes of the verte-
brateS: the fish, the amphibia (frogs,
salamander and others), the reptiles
Qizards and others), the birds and the
mammals. If Darwin's teaching is
correct, we must assume that all stand
in a certain evolutionary relationship
to each other and present more or less
distinctly connecting links. The fish
must be descended from very low
animals, which are not even verte-
brates, and in fact we know a fairly
good evolutionary form. the so-called
lancet fish or amphioxus. 1t lives at
present near many coasts, and also
near the Australian strands as a spe-
citic. almost distinct, species, known
as epigonichthys.
AS we approach the top the fish
must show, according to Darwin,
evolution toward the amphibians, the
amphibians toward the reptiles, and
the reptiles (here the ancestral tree
split itself. so it is believed) on the
one side toward the birds. on the
other toward the mammals.
without doubt that famous lizard
Hatteria, which belongs absolutely
and entirely to Australian domain,
is the nearest of all living animals to
the link between the amDhibian and
the reptile.
The link between the reptile and the
mammal is represented. with at least
partial distinctness, by the duck-blll,
which also belongs exclusively to
Australia and its islands. And Aus
tralia, almost alone of all lands. again
gives up the next evolutionary group
leading within the mammal family
from the duck-bill to the higher man.
mails; hoofed animals, carnivora, mon
keys and others.
The evolution from the reptile to
the bird is not so simple: that is. not
for Australia. The Wingless moa and
kiwi ostriches there certainly are re-
markable, and even very ancient forms
of birds. But they are not genuine
primeval birds, leading back directly
to the lizards. We know how such
genuine lizard-bird should appear
from the German Jurassic formations.
We have two imprints of the so-called
ArchaeopteryX, and that is unques-
tionably an animal exactly between
lizard and bird-an animal. to be sure
that does not exist now. but disap-
peared from the world in that form
probably millions of years ago.
A New iceland Mystery.
1t was a, pet thought of old Darwin
that in some until then unvisited part
of Australia-there were and are
enough of them-something like the
Archaeopteryx might be found alive
some day. When the traveller Haas
found mysterious animal tracks in the
SHOWS of the Alps of New Zealand,
Darwin adjured him; to discover if a
veritable lizard-bird did not dwell
there. But nothing was seen of such
a creature, and probably the tracks
were those of a mammal which, to De
sure, has not been caught or described
yet.
Now there would remain the last
great evolutionary turning point-be-
tween fish and amphibian, and 10! we
find it in Australia. And in this miss
ing link we find the ancestor of man
that lived and still lives in the sea.
1t is the lizard-fish, Ceratodus,
whose discovery has been described in
previous article of this series.
1t was Richard Semon, one of Haec-
keps pupils, who won the proof that
Ceratodus really is the missing link
between the reptile and the water
dwelling fish. He found its eggs after
incredible hardships in the Australian
bush. He studied the life history of
Ceratodus from those eggs to matur-
ity. And he found that in their en-
bryonic stage and in the succeeding
stages of development they are not
like fish, but like amphilbians, going
through stages similar to the tadpole
stages.
So we must see in the lizard-fish
Ceratodus, that dwells in the water,
one of our very own ancestors and an
ancestor, too who has bequeathed to
us an invaluable INTERCHANGEABLE of
the lung. For Ceratordus, or one of
his type, was the first water dwelling
thing to begin breathing in way 9TH
er than through external gills.
Ceratodus has both lungs and gills.
and as lungbreather of the sea he
is most important forefather of the
human race.