Amphioxus

In 1934, when I was a freshman zoology major at Texas A & M, I learned this song from Mr. Sewell H. Hopkins of the Zoology Department. He said that it dated from sometiime in the '20's, and that he had learned it at Woods Hole. Sam Hinton.
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A fish-like thing appeared among the annelids one day.
It hadn't any parapods nor setae to display.
It hadn't any eyes nor jaws, nor ventral nervous cord,
But it had a lot of gill slits and it had a notochord.

Chorus:
       It's a long way from Amphioxus.  It's a long way to us.
       It's a long way from Amphioxus to the meanest human cuss.
       Well, it's goodbye to fins and gill slits, and it's welcome lungs and hair!
       It's a long, long way from Amphioxus, but we all came from there.

It wasn't much to look at and it scarce knew how to swim,
And Nereis was very sure it hadn't come from him.
The mollusks wouldn't own it and the arthropods got sore,
So the poor thing had to burrow in the sand along the shore.


He burrowed in the sand before a crab could nip his tail,
And he said "Gill slits and myotomes are all to no avail.
I've grown some metapleural folds and sport an aural hood,
But all these fine new characters don't do me any good.

             (chorus)

He sulked awhile down in the sand without a bit of pep,
Then he stiffened up his notochord and said, "I'll beat 'em yet!
Let 'em laugh and show their ignorance.  I don't mind their jeers.
Just wait until I've evolved for a hundred million years.


My notochord shall turn into a chain of vertebrae
And as fins my metapleural folds will agitate the sea.
My tiny dorsal nervous cord will be a mighty brain
And the vertebrates shall dominate the animal domain.

             (chorus)

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