A horse bears even less resemblance to a turnip than to
an oyster; a relationship may, nevertheless, be traced, step by step,
between them, dissimilar as they are. There is the polypus, that
singular product of Nature, which, regarded in one light, performs all
the functions of animal life, whilst, when regarded in another, it has
the ordinary attributes of a plant; does this not clearly and
distinctly mark the transition from the vegetable to the animal
kingdom? Again, certain species of worms blend the animal with the
insect tribe, those which are covered with a horny substance unite
them with the crustaceae. These approach fish on the one hand, and
reptiles on the other, whilst reptiles in some species become
moluscs."
"And what is a molusc?" inquired Willis.
"The term _molusc_ is applied by naturalists to creatures which have
no vertebrae, as for example, the cuttle fish and the oyster."
"I believe _you_, Mr. Wolston; but if I had asked Ernest or Jack, they
would have told me that it was a commodore or an admiral."
"Reptiles, I was going to say, are connected at one end of the chain
with moluscs by the slug, and at the other with fish by the eel. From
flying-fish to birds the transition is by no means abrupt. The
ostrich, whose legs are like goat's, and runs rather than flies,
connects birds with quadrupeds; these again return to fish through the
cetacea.
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