called by me the ovigerous frena, which serve, through the means of a sticky secretion, to retain the eggs until they are hatched within the sack. These cirripedes have no branchiæ, the whole surface of the body and
sack, including sack, including 1859 1860 1861 |
of the sack, including 1866 |
of the sack, together with 1869 1872 |
the small frena, serving for respiration. The Balanidæ or sessile cirripedes, on the other hand, have no ovigerous frena, the eggs lying loose at the bottom of the sack,
in in 1859 1860 1861 1866 | within 1869 1872 |
the well-enclosed shell; but they
have have 1859 1860 | have, 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
large folded branchiæ. large folded branchiæ. 1859 1860 |
in the same relative position, large, much folded membranes, which freely communicate with the circulatory lacunæ of the sack and body, and which have been considered to be branchiæ by Prof. Owen and all other naturalists who have treated on the subject. 1861 |
in the same relative position with the frena, large, much-folded membranes, which freely communicate with the circulatory lacunæ of the sack and body, and which have been considered to be branchiæ by Prof. Owen and all other naturalists who have treated on the subject. 1866 |
in the same relative position with the frena, large, much-folded membranes, which freely communicate with the circulatory lacunæ of the sack and body, and which have been considered to be branchiæ by Prof. Owen and by all other naturalists who have treated on the subject. 1869 |
in the same relative position with the frena, large, much-folded membranes, which freely communicate with the circulatory lacunæ of the sack and body, and which have been considered by all naturalists to act as branchiæ. 1872 |
Now I think no one will dispute that the ovigerous frena in the one family are strictly homologous with the branchiæ of the other family; indeed, they graduate into each other. Therefore
I do not I do not 1859 1860 1861 |
it need not be 1866 1869 1872 |
doubt doubt 1859 1860 1861 | doubted 1866 1869 1872 |
that
little little 1859 1860 |
the two little 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
folds of skin, which originally served as ovigerous frena, but which, likewise, very slightly
aided aided 1859 1860 1861 1866 1872 | aid in 1869 |
the the 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 | in the 1872 |
act of respiration, have been gradually converted by natural selection into branchiæ, simply through an increase in their size and the obliteration of their adhesive glands. If all pedunculated cirripedes had become extinct, and they have
already already 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 | already 1872 |
suffered far more extinction than have sessile cirripedes, who would ever have imagined that the branchiæ in this latter family had originally existed as organs for preventing the ova from being washed out of the sack? ↑8 blocks not present in 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869; present in 1872 | There is another possible mode of transition, namely, through the acceleration or retardation of the period of reproduction.
This has lately been insisted on by Prof. Cope and others in the United States.
It is now known that some animals are capable of reproduction at a very early age, before they have acquired their perfect characters; and if this power became thoroughly well developed in a species, it seems probable that the adult stage of development would sooner or later be lost; and in this case, especially if the larva differed much from the mature form, the character of the species would be greatly changed and degraded.
Again, not a few animals, after arriving at maturity, go on changing in character during nearly their whole lives.
With mammals, for instance, the form of the skull is often much altered with age, of which Dr. Murie has given some striking instances with seals; every one knows how the horns of stags become more and more branched, and the plumes of some birds become more finely developed, as they grow older.
Prof. Cope states that the teeth of certain lizards change much in shape with advancing years; with crustaceans not only many trivial, but some important parts assume a new character, as recorded by Fritz Müller, after maturity.
In all such cases,— and many could be given,— if the age for reproduction were retarded, the character of the species, at least in its adult state, would be modified; nor is it improbable that the previous and earlier stages of development would in some cases be hurried through and finally lost.
Whether species have often or ever been modified through this comparatively sudden mode of transition, I can form no opinion; but if this has occurred, it is probable that the differences between the young and the mature, and between the mature and the old, were primordially acquired by graduated steps.
|
↑Subtitle not present 1859 1860 1861 |
Special Difficulties of
the
Theory
of
Natural
Selection. 1872 |
|