Evolution: Read Before the N. S. Ins. Nat. Sci. on May 11th, 1874 (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from Evolution: Read Before the N. S. Ins. Nat. Sci. On May 11th, 1874

All Vertebrates are Quadrupeds, and each limb, if complete, . Has five digits, but while in the Ungulata many have but two welll developed digits to each limb, and in the Equine Family all but one have become atrophied, in the Order Ophidia, the limbs are com pletely atrophied and functionless , and not apparent externally, that Order being in this as in the vegetative' repetition of vertebrae, the most asymmetrical and specialized of the land Vertebrates, so that the poison'bag possessed by some of them, . Was scarcely needed to make the Serpent the fitting emblem of Evil in every Mythology. In accordance with the general law which I have indicated, this highly differentiated Type does not appear among the early representatives of the Class, not having yet been found earlier than the Cretaceous Period.

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