Plagiostomata of the Pacific. Pt. I. Fam. Heterodontidae / by N. de Miklouho-Maclay and William Macleay.
- Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay
- Date:
- [1878]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Plagiostomata of the Pacific. Pt. I. Fam. Heterodontidae / by N. de Miklouho-Maclay and William Macleay. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
15/34 page 317
![trals ; the anal fin does not reach close to the caudal; the spines of the dorsal fins are shorter, and the anterior teeth, figured by Dumeril, are acutely tri-cuspid, the centre cusp large and resem- bling those of H. gcdeatus. The colour is described as being of a reddish-brown on the superior and lateral regions, and on the fins, with round black spots irregularly disposed over the whole surface. We thus find, that out of the vast numbers of Eeterodont sharks which peopled all parts of the globe for myriads of ages, from the first appearance of vertebrate animals on the earth to the present day, but four species remain in existence, or, if my suspicions relative to the Japanese fish be correct, at the most only five, and those are for the most part so rare, and found in such remote and limited localities, as to lead to the belief that, as a race, they are in process of extinction. The history of these extraordinary animals is, however, not more remarkable and instructive than that of many others which geology tells us have existed and passed their allotted period on the earth, and then passed away, seemingly without a cause. But what is extraordinary is, that the Evolutionists of the present day should be able to manufacture, out of this constant succession of Life, arguments in favour of their theory. When the Heterodonti first made their appearance, their development seems to have been as advanced as at the present day; they were preceded by no forms of fishes, except a few Ganoids, from which they could scarcely be evolved, and the first subsequent record of the existence of Sharks was the teeth of Notidanus, a genus having no apparent affinity to Heterodontus. The traces of these Sharks have been found con- tinuously for a vast succession of geological periods, without any appearance of deviation from the original, or approach to any sub- sequent creation, and the succession of these fossil evidences have been so unbroken and unvarying, that the usual excuse of the Evolutionist when met with a difficulty, “ That an unexampled gap exists in the continuity of the geological periods,” will scarcely avail him in the present instance. [13]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22367913_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
