Wings

[Anne Kilmer]

John Grehan wrote:
> 
> I was interested to read the several comments of evolution of insect wings

 snip

> There may be solid evidence of homology between gills and wings,
> that gliding has evolved from flapping on numerous occassions, and this
> is consistent with the fossil record etc., but none of these evidences have any
> contribution to supporting the invokation of predation pressures which is,
> as far as I am aware, purely hypothetical, and not much better than the
> grasshopper
> hypothesis. Its possible, as an alternative, that aquatic ancestors (if
> this is indeed
> the case) were exposed to a terrestrial environment, and as they survived,
> what once functioned as a gill now functioned as a wing (albeit as a long
> process).
> 
> Sincerely, John Grehan

Another factor that might be considered: jumping is sexy. When you
consider natural selection, sometimes you fail to note that frivolous
factor: attracting the other sex.
	This is not always frivolous, when one gets down to first causes. The
alkaloids that tempt the female Monarch to yield, will protect the eggs
from ants. She presumably does not know, so we cannot attribute purpose
to her in this selection. Where we leave it, applying only logic, is
that those who made this choice had grandchildren. 
	Any fool can have children. It's grandchildren that count. 
	As for wings, they also make the butterfly too big for a cardinal to
eat ... or so my friend the cardinal thinks, as he looks appraisingly at
a Giant Swallowtail. Or so I think he thinks. They are the canvas for
various disguises which mimic owl eyes, and how does this happen? 
	So I imagine the joyous god enjoying the play of his/her paints and
clay, "and I was part of the mud that got to stand up and walk around
... lucky me, lucky mud." And why shouldn't such a God's art look like
evolution to us? Seems to me the biblical description matches up pretty
well with the fossil record. If you are infinite, how long is your day?
	 Here we are, perhaps an experiment ... what does it feel like to be
born and die ... trying to figure out how this thing works before we
break it. What an interesting time to be alive!
Anne Kilmer
South Florida