Picture - Cosmic Polymath

358 DESIGN IN NATURE
swimming tails ; those which fly have greatly expanded wings (Plate 1., Fig. 1, letters A to N inclusive). These
remarks apply to all animals without distinction : to animals with and without a skeleton, and with and without
limbs. The laws of locomotion are inexorable to the extent, that the animals frequenting the land, the water, and
the air respectively, must be provided with travelling organs and surfaces adapted to at least one of the three highways
of nature. The quadruped cannot swim so well as the fish, and the fish cannot fly so well as the insect, bat,
and bird. The animals which excel in walking, swimming, and flying are of necessity provided with special walking,
swimming, and flying organs. The sea-mammals, such as the porpoises and whales, are fish-shaped, and supplied
with the expanded fUppers (modified fins) and tails which characterise fishes. The reptiles which take to the water
are furnished with expanded feet, flippers, or a broadly expanded swimming tail ; the fishes which fly are endowed
with large, powerful, pectoral fins resembling wings, and the insects, bats, and birds which indulge in aerial loco-
motion are, in every instance, equipped with greatly expanded pinions. Whatever the nature of the animal, its
travelling organs are, and must be, adapted to one or more of the highways of nature.
As further illustrating the special modifications and adaptations manifested in the locomotion of animals it
may be stated that animals with small feet, such as the horse, deer, dog, and hare among mammals, and the emu
and ostrich among birds, confine their movements almost exclusively to the land : those with expanded feet, such
as the otter, platypus, seal, sea-lion, and walrus, restricting their operations largely to the water. The modifications
and adaptations are even more marked in the sea-mammals, which have fish-shaped bodies, and can only swim and
dive. The same is true of the penguins among birds. These have small rudimentary wings hke flippers, and are
most expert swimmers and divers, but most awkward, imperfect walkers. The flying fish, because of its greatly
expanded pectoral fins, can make considerable excursions in the air, and the flying squirrel, galeopithecus, and flying
dragon, which have large integumentary membranes extending between their anterior and posterior extremities on
either side of the body, can take long leaps and glide parachute-fashion from elevations, trees, &c. The bat, the
only mammal which now flies, has very large, splendid wings, their area exceeding that of the wings of many birds.
As in the present, so in the past. Time was when the extinct reptile fish, the Ichthyosaurus, swam fish-like by
the aid of a swimming tail and by flippers ; the extinct reptile bird, the Plesiosaurus, swimming by the aid of flippers
alone. The extinct reptiles, the Pterodaotyles, were provided with ample wings and flew in the air. The extinct
sea -mammals, the Halitherium and Ehytina, were fish-shaped and adopted the fish form of locomotion. The
extinct birds, the Dinornis giganteus, the Apteryx, and Dodo, had strong legs ;
the wings being very rudimentary.
They ran but could not fly. The various animals, past and present (whatever their nature) had to be provided
with suitable organs of locomotion for the land, the water, or the air. No animal is equally well adapted for walk-
ing, swimming, and flying. If it walks and runs well, it, as a rule, swims indifferently : if it swims well, it, for the
most part, walks and runs badly : if it flies well, the chances are it neither swims nor walks well. There are, it
should be stated, insects and birds which walk, swim, and fly indiscriminately, but they never attain to perfection
in all three kinds of locomotion. The eagle, vulture, kite, falcon, and other large birds of prey fly magnificently,
but jump and hobble when they attempt to walk : they cannot swim. The albatross, swift, swallow, and bat, while
among the best of flyers, can scarcely be said to walk : the albatross only can swim. The penguin flies with great
velocity under the water, but cannot fly in the air ; neither can it walk with any degree of steadiness. There are
other birds, such as the grouse, partridge, and pheasant, which run and fly well but cannot swim. In all this there
IS design and law and order. If one or more of the three great highways of nature are to be traversed, the mechanical
conditions of the highway or highways must be satisfied, and the animal, whatever its nature, must be provided
not only with the organs and surfaces requisite, but it must possess the power and the skill to apply the organs and
surfaces so as to obtain the reactions necessary for propulsion, or for propulsion and support. Animals could not
maintain their places in nature unless they were differentiated and modified as regards the sense and other organs
to adapt them to their peculiar modes of life. The developing frog in its tadpole stage illustrates the fish-tail
swimming arrangement. In this particular case there is no time to manufacture a swimming tail according to the
plan advocated by Mr. Darwin and the Evolutionists. The accidental trifling modifications, extending over vast
periods, required by " natural selection " and " evolution " are wholly absent. The same is true of the young fish.
The fish develops from an egg in which there is no trace of a swimming tail. A tail, however, as in the tadpole, is
developed in a surprisingly short time and before our eyes. The fish-tail is not an accidental but a pre-determined
structure. It is arranged for in the development of the fish from the egg. The young fish grows in two directions
—dorsally and ventrally. The dorsal portion includes the back-bone, muscles, nerves, chief blood-vessels, &c. ; the
ventral portion the ahmentary canal, glandular system, &c. At first there is no mouth, alimentary canal, or vent
the young fish being provided with a ventral bag of pabulum, which is gradually absorbed as development proceeds.
The young fish is not permitted to die of inanition during development, from neglect or the absence of a First Cause
and design. At the same time that the bag of pabulum is being absorbed, a mouth and perfect alimentary canal