Francis Maitland Balfour

thumb|right|Francis M. Balfour Francis Maitland Balfour (November 10, 1851 – July 19, 1882) was a British biologist. Sourced [Why do animals] undergo in the course of their growth a series of complicated changes, during which they acquire organs which have no function, and which, after remaining visible for a short time, disappear without leaving a trace . . . The explanation of such facts is obvious. The stage when the tadpole breathes by gills is a repetition of the stage when the ancestors of the frog had not advanced in the scale of development beyond a fish. Comparative Embryology, p. 702. (1880) External links Category:Science authors Category:Biologists from Scotland Category:Naturalists from Scotland Category:1851 births Category:1882 deaths Category:People from Edinburgh