The Washington times., 1922-11-17
BY WALTER vOGDES.
Copyright, 1899. by Cosmopolitan


he came from fish.
So said Prof. william Beebe,
| famous scientist and author. today,
following his return from ten months
of studying primitive life In the Jun
giles of British Guiana.
| Thus. when an irritated person re-
fers to a fellow being as "a poor
fish," he Is biologically right. Judged
by scientific and piscatorial stand
ards, man Is that very thing.
Dr. Beebe, so far as Is known, is
| the first scientist to see fish walk.
Hesiiscovered how 1t rises on Its fins
and uses the fins as arms and legs.
Hence. said DR.. Beebe. mans
arms and legs were once fins and
his ancestors were water animals.
when the land minnow reaches
an obstruction II makes a frantic.
concentrated rush, jumps and clings
| to the obstruction with its tail. 1t
| has an adhesive tail.
Then II makes another jump. and
so on and on. until 1t reaches the
point II Is making for. generally
| secluded spot under leaf. where II
can lie In wait for insects. l have
known a land minnow to live for nine
| days out OF water.
1.-THE land minnOw. figuratively
! speaking. lives In a back-water from
| 'remstoric times. 1t Is a relative OF
he four-eyed minnow Of British
Guiana, but the four-eyed minnow.
spite of its visual perspicacity,
never worked out a scheme for leav-
| ng the water.
"The land minnow took the first
| step one bright day several million
of
! It's fins remained fins In spite OF all
| it could do. Some other fish that
has since disappeared did q little
better and as result we have man.
Science has known that the land
minnow existed, but didn't know how
| the little fish managed to put three
or four hundred feet between II and
the nearest patch Of water. The
supposition was that the fish wrig-
gled or crawled."
DIR. Beebe was found in a secluded
apartment on West Sixty-seventh
street. A quiet street, a large, quiet
room. the walls lined With books and
photographs and drawings Of ami
mails. A tall, lean man rising from
| the dim corner behind a comfortable
desk. In tweeds, bald. deeply tanned
| rom his work as director of the
tropical research section of the New
York Geological Society, he related
in a simple way the most amazing
facts about life in the faraway
| jungles, the last stamping grounds
of animal life.
Did you discover any new forms
of animal life?" he was asked.
Yes; on this trip we found about
$50 forms, including insects un-
L.o n
discovered in an area that included
only one quarter Of a square mile.
Man knows little about the jun
gle; 1t is easy to find new animals
and insects. The difficulty comes In
naming them
But / am not SO much interested
in discovering new forms OF life as
in studying the ones already known.
In that way ! believe a greater con-
tribution to scientific knowledge can
be made.
"The land minnow was only one
Of the several small primitive life
forms that we studied. Observation
of the iguana and the hoatzln also
helped to show the evolutionary
rend.
"If you watch the iguana. rep
tile. spring from the branches OF n
rec and trust itself to the air. you
realize plainly the instinct that
rought reptiles up to the bird stage.
1.-THE hoatzin illustrates the same
step. It Is part bird. part reptile.
obviously q hold-over from the time
when animals emerged from the sea.
THE wings Of the hoatzin nest
lings are armed with two well.de-
! veloped claws and the birds clsmbor
! q T. Ia hssN
wholly unbirdlike manner
Then you do not thi * that man
was evolved from the monkey"
:Oh, no, man and monkey are
parallel branches from the same
Tree. Each Is fully developed Each
harks back to the time when he was
water animal"
DIR. Beebe paused and smiled.
You know, scientists do not be.
lieve there IL any cause for con-
troversy concerni g evolution We
| lccept the fact and are only inter-
.sted in obtaining more data to ex.
plain It's stages"
"Do you believe there are many
more forms Of animal life 4 a un.
known 10 man, forms that will he'd
now light on evolution?" was ques.
tio cd.
yes" DIR. Beebe answered. "there
are thousands Of unknown forms in
the jungles. We think that New
York city. for inst ance, il congested.
but II Ia sparsely popula' -, in com.
parison to the teeming life of the
jungle.
81 have heard people who have
entered the Jungle express disap-
polntmcnt at the lack OF life. They
lid not see II because they would
not remain still and watch for IL. As
hey moved. the jungle people re.
treated silently, and human eyes
and ears are not keen enough to re-
cord tho subtle presence Of those
millions Of lives, unless great care
IL used.
yet. have found 1000 living
beings In q square yard OF jungle
floor. And during an hours walk
one morning. when I recorded every
hint o. a living organism seen or
heard I observed b3s different forms