The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-07-17
EVOLUTION Of LIFE
Artist Depicts It a Striking New
Group.
0ficIals Of American Museum Of
Natural History Highly Commend
Roy w. Miners Exhibition a.
One Of the Best There.

Roy w. Miners Exhibition a.
One Of the Best There.
New York.-A new group at the
American Museum of Natural History
recently arranged by Roy w. Miner
is highly commended by the museum
officials. who regard It as one Of the
best there. 1t shows animal life on
the wharf piles and is intended to
give a striking illustration of the pro-
cess of evolution from animal to al.
most plant life. Mr.. Miner himself
thus describes the exhibit.
The group illustrates a balanced
association in which the struggle for
existence between animals is not ap-
parent the majority Of the species
being plant-like and either incapable
of locomotion in the adult stage, or
In possession Of It 10 4 very limited
degree.
"On the broken pile In the center
Of the foreground, for example, grow.
Ing over the mussels which have com.
pletely covered its stump, are hun
dreds Of delicate pink bydroids clus.
tered In feathery colonies. Here and
there among them peep forth the
transparent solitary polyps Of the
white armed sea anemone. while the
larger brown sea anemone extends IL
fringe-crowned disks on this and the
neighboring piles. interpreted with
coral red masses Of the red-beard
sponge,
Although these hower.like forms
are relatively stationary and inactive.
underneath their apparent peaceful
ness and beauty the struggle for ex.
tstence goes on as relentlessly as
among fierce free-swimming species.
! but with this difference. that their
prey Is invisible to our eyes. The
waters in which they are immersed
are swarming with myriads OF micro
scopc creatures, while every polyp,
with open rapacious mouth and ex-
tended singing tentacles, is but a
trap to entangle and engulf them. and
every sponge colony, with its million
pores, sucks in the nutritious draft OF
organisms which are the ultimate
basis Of food for al. sea life.
In n word, sponges and polyps. In
spite OF their size and wide diversity
Of form, are but little above the
simplest Of all animals, the one called
protocol and have developed as
typically digestive organisms.
Since their good is everywhere
present, organs Of locomotion are not
needed to obtain It. Special senses
and directive intelligence, or instincts
have not been definitely evolved, since
goes hand In hand with that Of loco
motor organs.
1T is true that certain polyps pos
sess somewhat aimless and imperfect
methods Of locomotion, such as the
slow-creeping movement OF the sea
anemones and the umbrella mode OF
propulsion peculiar to hydromedusae
and the true 1ellynshes-a beautiful
example OF which is shown laZily
swimming near the broken pile In
the group. But the polyps as whole
may be considered as mere sac-like
stomachs. this specialization In diges
ton being their nest striking ad'
vance. aside from their multicellular
structure. over their protozoan pro
, genitors, Yet there is a good reason
70 believe that 4 polyp-like condition
such as this is ancestral to the struc.
ture OF all the higher and more com.
pick groups Of the animal kingdom
Associated with sponges and
polyps upon the wharf piles are many
other sedentary animals which like
them, feed upon the nLcro-organisms
OF the sea At first glance these seem
to be OF hardly higher organization
than the polyps, but an examination
OF their structure at once shows them
w VIC HiNAlbtI = VI IltuIH DiSiltI
In the scale Of life
These animals are so closely adapt.
ed TO an attached mode of life and
diet OF heterogeneous that the aver
age observer unacquainted with their
afilnities. would fall to recognize them
as being included In the same great
phyium
Finally, everything on the piles ar,
various species OF the sea suurts or
ascidians. singly and In colonies
These small sac-like creatures, each
with projecting pair OF tubes, or
"s,phons," though apparently insignIf.
cant. are in reality highly interestin.
from an evolutionary st.udpoint One
species IL represented as growing In
large yellow masses on the upper part
Of one Of the piles Some of the in.
dividuals OF this species are marked
with dark star-like colonies of another
ascidian which grow upon their
surfaces Here and there stand out
the conspicuous masses OF the pink
seal pork"