(32

(32

Ch. 5

in the series the genealogy of the mammalia, including man, lower down in the series, we become involved in more & more doubt greater & greater obscurity. He who wishes to see what ingenuity & knowledge can effect, may consult Professor Häckel's works:* I will content myself with a few general remarks. Every evolutionist will ought to admit that the five great vertebrate classes of the, namely, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, & fishes, are all descended from some one prototype; for they have much in common, especially during their embryologynic state. As the class of Fishes are is the most lowly organised, less & appeared before the others, we may conclude that all its members are derived from some fish-like animal, which must have been less highly organised than any as yet found in the lowest known formations.

The conclusion will appear monstrous, that animals so distinct as a bird & a lizard, or a frog & a fish, could have all sprung from the same parents, will appear monstrous to those who have not attended to natural history, for this implies; as the former existence of links closely nothing connecting their various forms, now so utterly unlike, is thus implied.)