`` Hills Like White Elephants `` An Omniscient Third...

Ernest Hemmingway’s â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† is narrated in an omniscient third-person point of view. Hemingway’s minimalistic style doesn’t discuss many characters in the story, but rather focuses on their engagements and discourse. The narrator in this story gives little to no insight into what is happening. However, with this style of writing, Hemingway is able to present many themes that are apparent throughout the short story. One of the themes I have chosen to focus on is alcohol. Alcohol is highlighted throughout the two-character’s serious discussion. The conversation is full of tension regarding the operation that the man wants the girl to undergo. With all this tension, the alcohol seems to act as a distraction or escape†¦show more content†¦Drinking is the only source of relief that the man and the girl can find from both the harsh, hot sunlight and the complications of their own relationship. A rather simple quote fr om Jig, â€Å"Let’s drink beer† is actually an indicator to other portions of the story where Jig steers the action with her speech. Jig is actually the one doing much of the decision making in the story. This could be because the American is obviously asking Jig to perform an operation that he knows is in his favor, while Jig is still uncertain. This in hand allows Jig to hold most of the power throughout the story. On page 643, Jig makes a seemingly mean comment on the surface. â€Å"They look like white elephants,† she said. â€Å"I’ve never seen one,† the man drank his beer. â€Å"No, you wouldn’t have.† As we soon learn she becomes very disappointed in the American because he wants her to have an abortion and doesn’t want to marry her. Yet, her jab has nothing to do with that. It is more of a subtle, underhand approach, as she attempts to belittle the man, because he hasn’t traveled as much as she has. But even more than that, the context behind the white elephants mentioned, is in reference to the hills they see. In general, a white elephant signifies something that no one wants, and in this novelette it is the unborn child. Initially her comment seems to be casual, but it actually forms a segue for her and the man to discuss theShow MoreRelatedEng 125 Week 2 Assignment with Reference Page882 Words   |  4 Pagesgenre of this short story is very much similar to the genre of a how simple short stories are told and it has managed to create a real conversation which is set in a fairly realistic place, although the entire scenario is fictional. The â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† is about a frustrating talk between the two couple in which the American man is trying to convince her girlfriend on not having a baby as it may ruin their happy life. By the highlighting the symbols, it is clarified that the girl is pregnantRead More Comparing Where Are you going, Where Have You Been and Hills Like White Elephants1320 Words   |  6 Pagesstories often use good technical writing skills. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast two short stories: Where Are you going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates and Hills Like White Elephants by Earnest Hemingway. The comparison and contrast will be done based on their use of plot, point of view and character development. The short story where are you going, where have you been is about a teenage girl who is, vain, self-doubting and affixed in the present. She does not know anythingRead MoreRoman Fever and Hills Like White Elephants Essay2110 Words   |  9 Pagesof carefully developing their unique characters and through point of view, both Edith Wharton and Ernest Hemingway ultimately convey the significant revelation in the short stories, â€Å"Roman Fever† and â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† respectively. The use of these two literary techniques is essential because they provide the readers with the necessary clues to realize the ultimate revelations. â€Å"Roman Fever† and â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† are two stories that on surface seem very different from oneRead More Comparison of Hemingways Hills Like White Elephants and Cat In The Rain1013 Words   |  5 PagesComparison of Hemingways Hills Like White Elephants and Cat In The Rain Cat In The Rain is set in an Italian hotel where we meet an American couple. Outside a cat is trapped in the rain, and the wife wants to save it. When she goes to get it, it is gone but the maid later brings her one. The point of view in the story is a third person narrator, but the perspective changes going from the wife to the husband and an objective narrator who tells it like it is. The story is told retrospectivelyRead MoreHills like white elephant5316 Words   |  22 PagesHills Like White Elephants: The Jilting of Jig Hashmi, Nilofer. The Hemingway Review, Volume 23, Number 1, Fall 2003, pp. 72-83 (Article) Published by University of Idaho Department of English DOI: 10.1353/hem.2004.0009 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/hem/summary/v023/23.1hashmi.html Access Provided by Chulalongkorn University at 11/21/11 7:26AM GMT â€Å"hills like white elephants†: T h e j i lt i n g of j i g nilofer hashmi Georgia SouthernRead MoreANALIZ TEXT INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS28843 Words   |  116 Pagesexplicitly dramatized or presented in an early scene or chapter. Some conflicts, in fact, are never made explicit and must be inferred by the reader from what the characters do or say as the plot unfolds (as, for example, in Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants†). Conflict, then, is the basic opposition, or tension, that sets the plot in motion; it engages the reader, builds the suspense or mystery of the work, and arouses expectation for the vents that are to follow. The plot of the traditionalRead MoreThe Most Dangerous Game8910 Words   |  36 Pagesand the idea or intent in his mind. It includes the author’s POV and is HOW the author tells the story. Look for 1st, 3rd or 3rd person omniscient narration. Look for clues of an unreliable narrator such as blatant, untrue statements, the claim to be mentally ill and delusional and elements of the story that suggest the narrator may have a distorted or biased point-of-view. Tone vs. Mood First to clarify the difference between tone and mood: The tone is the authors attitude, stated or implied

McDonald’s in British Free Essays

The UK is the largest European market for fast-food, probably because the market is more developed than in other European countries. McDonald’s first British unit opened in Woolwich, London, in 1974. Its growth from the first restaurant was dramatic. We will write a custom essay sample on McDonald’s in British or any similar topic only for you Order Now At the end of 1999, it had over 1,000 outlets in the UK, of which 302 were run by franchisees. McDonald’s employed over 48,000 people; a further 16,500 worked in its franchises. The total sales from both its company owned restaurants and its franchised outlets reached  £400 million and it catered for 2.5 million people a day. By the end of the twentieth century, McDonald’s logo was no longer confined to the high streets but extended to leisure centres and retail parks as well as airports and cross-Channel ferries. McDonald’s has gone beyond this by opening its own motorway service station called McDonald’s Services which it opened on the M5 in Devon in 1999. In February 2001 McDonald’s bought a 33 per cent stake in Prà ªt à   Manger. McDonald’s dominates the chained fast-food sector both in terms of company and brand terms, taking a share, by value, of 52 per cent n 1999. Together McDonald’s and Burger King had 73 per cent of the market in 1999. In a busy world where one does not even have time to change out of his work clothes to spend â€Å"quality† time with his or her daughter, McDonald’s is there to help. The food is necessary to have the fun and companionship, but what the food consists of is irrelevant. Love (1995) points out that as McDonald’s started to expand in the late 1960s it realized that to cultivate a national mass market, it needed to develop a media campaign that focused on the family rather than the product and price. When McDonald’s returned to their complete American menu, altered their buildings to be more similar to their American architecture, and modified their ad campaigns to â€Å"food, folks, and fun,† – the myths of hard work and leisure, Americana and American culture and consensus – did their work. In Britain the McDonald’s ads proclaimed,   â€Å"The United Tastes of America.† In the UK, adverts were aimed in the middle of the biggest market, the family segment. If children wanted to have fun at McDonald’s, their parents would take them, and they would be McDonald’s customers for life. From my perspective, the McDonald’s success is based upon its ability to tell a story, a story that does not make sense from a logical perspective but rather from an aesthetic one. The story has coherence and fidelity and helps one solve his or her problem through the purchase and possession of commodities. McDonald’s is successful not through the components of a rational system that includes efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control, but through its advertising campaign that hails each of us to come in and buy its product of â€Å"food, folks, and fun,† to come in and fulfil our American dream. Although most Americans would not consider McDonald’s to make the â€Å"best† hamburger in their home towns, McDonald’s is hugely successful on an international basis. One does not go to McDonald’s expecting the best hamburger in town. One goes to McDonald’s expecting the image. McDonald’s success is due to their creation of a narrative that is not necessarily true but rather provides us with a sense of personal identity, a sense of community life, a basis for conduct, and explanations of that which cannot be known. Labour shortages encourage fast-food employers to alter their work systems in ways that minimize the demand for labour through reorganization or technological change. Subway Sandwiches supplies franchisees with pre-portioned sandwich ingredients from centralized food preparation plants; McDonald’s has experimented with robotic french fry makers, automated touch-screen ordering machines, and automatic electronic payment systems for cashless drive-through service. McDonald’s also expects its new â€Å"Made for You† food preparation system to reduce employee turnover and provide some labour savings. Before the imposition of the minimum wage McDonald’s employees worked in the regions under 18 started on  £3.25 per hour and those over 18 started on  £3.50 per hour. In the UK McDonald’s has three separate pay ‘scales’ for inner London, outer London and the provinces and it has both under-18 and over-18 starting rates. In fact McDonald’s increased its UK pay rates again by a flat rate of 10 pence on 28 March 1999 to bring the over-18 starting rate to  £3.60 outside London. Something like 70 per cent of McDonald’s UK employees are under 21, and approximately 30 per cent are under 18. In October 1999 McDonald’s was the last of the leading fast-food chains to remove the youth rate for under 18s. In 2000 McDonald’s increased its minimum rate outside London to  £3.75, once again probably in response to the small increase in the minimum wage for that year of  £3.70. Figures from IDS (2001) suggest that McDonald’s does not pay the lowest wages in the sector: it actually appears somewhere in the middle compared with other companies. However, its dominance in the market place undoubtedly has a constraining effect on wages amongst its competitors. The evidence at the McLibel trial also confirms this. Vidal (1997:312) states that the judge commented that: â€Å"the British McDonald’s operation pays low wages and it depresses wages for other workers in the industry.† Of course McDonald’s has been increasingly involved in the acquisition of other companies in recent years. In the UK the purchase of the Aroma coffee chain and more recently Prà ªt à   Manger may signal a new corporate strategy. In any case the relatively small number of restaurants in Europe compared with that in the US suggests that the European market is likely to experience a lot more expansion in future, although McDonald’s is already the market leader in the UK. The UK McDonald’s is, as in many other countries, expanding rapidly and becoming an increasingly important feature of modern employment. Although the majority of outlets in the sector are independent operations, it is the chain operations often owned by large multinationals which are the most profitable and which are driving growth. It is a highly competitive industry and labour costs are a large percentage of the overall costs of the business. It is hardly surprising therefore that there is likely to be a continual and persistent downward pressure on wages and conditions in this sector. Bibliography IDS. 2001, â€Å"The national minimum wage in pubs and restaurants†, Incomes Data Services, March: 1-8. Love J. F. 1995, McDonald’s: Behind the arches. New York: Bantam. Vidal, J. 1997, McLibel: Burger Culture on Trial, London: Macmillan.    How to cite McDonald’s in British, Essay examples

Phylum Lab free essay sample

The diversity of animal life on Earth is astounding. Each animal has a unique body plan which allows it to survive and adapt to its given surroundings. With such an abundance of species, classifying animals into different categories is necessary. At first the diversity of animals can be overwhelming, but after further research and observation, many likenesses appear. These similarities become the basis for taxonomists, the biologists who specialize in classifying animals, to organize and bring order to the animal kingdom. Animals are classified into categories called taxa and are sorted according to their phylogeny (evolutionary history), body plan and similarity of characteristics. There are seven principle levels that organisms can be placed into: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. All animals are in the Kingdom Animalia. As you move from species to kingdom, the animals that are grouped together share fewer and fewer characteristics at each succeeding level. The next level after Kingdom is Phyla, which is the main focus of the lab today. Even though there are approximately thirty-five phyla within the animal kingdom, 98 percent of all animals are classified into eight of them. To get even more specific, seven of the eight phyla are invertebrates. Invertebrates comprise most of the animal kingdom, with almost 75 percent of all animals on earth being insects. They out number humans by a million to one! From Phylum, animals are then broken down into more specific categories: class, order, family, genus, species. For example, a shark, a bird, and a human are all in the Phylum Chordata. So, what similarities do these animals have? Taxonomists would agree that all these animals have similar internal skeletons. However, these animals would not be grouped in the same Class. This process would continue until the animal is classified all the way to species type. Keep in mind that sub-phyla, do exist and even though most animals are place into these eight phyla, not only are there visible difference amongst the eight phyla, but also within each phyla. The following description of each phylum are from the â€Å"Shape of Life† guide (Sea studios Foundation, 2002). Purpose Students will use the descriptions of the phyla (provided) to create a phylum key. By organizing characteristics into eight phyla, they will have a guide to assist them in determining which phylum is represented by preserved specimen presented to them. Materials Phyla Descriptions Characteristic Cards Answer Sheet Teacher’s transparency (answer key) Preserved specimen from each of the eight phyla Procedure 1. Review the phyla descriptions provided, or use your notes/test to review the key characteristics from each phylum. 2. Each card contains a main characteristic of one of the eight main phyla. Each group/student will cut apart the cards and try to arrange them appropriately on their answer sheet. The end product is a comparison of the main characteristics of each phyla. 3. Once the answer sheet has been completed, ask your teacher to check your work. 4. When you have correctly assembled your answer sheet you may glue the characteristic cards down onto the answer sheet. Porifera Sponges The Phylum Porifera consists only of sponges, which is unique since these animals are entirely aquatic; with 98% found only in marine environments and a small percentage found in freshwater lakes and streams. Sponges are considered the oldest and of the animal phyla. Translated from Latin, Porifera means â€Å"pore bearer. † Sponges play an important role in aquatic ecosystems, acting to filter particles out of the water especially bacteria. Sponges can be found living with coral reefs. The surface of a sponge is covered with a skin which is one cell thick. This skin is penetrated by numerous small pores and a few larger openings. These larger openings are the entrances and exits for a complex system of canals and chambers through which the sponge pumps a current of water. The body of a sponge between this system of canals is a loose assemblage of cells that secrets a supporting skeleton of collagen fibers and mineral spicules (glass or calcium carbonate) and carries out the process of growth, repair, nourishment, and reproduction. Sponges can filter/clean water at a rate of their entire volume in less than a minute? As the sponge pumps in water at this amazing rate, it captures tiny food items as small as a single micron in diameter. Choanocytes are specialized flagellated cells, also called collar cells, that allow sponges to pump the water. Since sponges are filter feeders they often have to filter over a ton of water to secure just a single ounce of food? Sponges reproduce asexually by fragmentation or budding, sexually (eggs and sperm), or hermaphroditic, a single species with both male and female gametes. Their commercial importance includes use as bath sponges as well as being tested for possible anti-cancer drugs or antibiotics. Sponges provide a micro habitat for other organisms and they aid in cleaning the water. Since sponges are considered the simplest of the all animal phyla, they are important subjects for analyzing the evolution of animals. Studies indicate that the Phylum Porifera is at the base of the animal tree of life. Features: * Asymmetrical * Organized as an assemblage of different kinds of specialized cells, e. g. collar cells * No tissues * Skeleton lacking or made of spicules Cnidaria Jellyfish, Corals, Anenomes, Hydra The phylum cnidaria includes such animals as jellyfish, corals, sea pens, sea anemones, and hydras. This phylum contains the most venomous marine creature. It is the Australian box jellyfish. It is known to kill more people than sharks, crocodiles and stonefish combined. It can cause shock and heart failure within minutes. Sea turtles prey upon the box jellyfish but are not affected by the venom. Most cnidaria alternate between two different body forms in their life: the free-swimming form, called the medusa, and the stationary form, called the polyp. Both body types follow the same basic plan. They are radially symmetrical with three layers of tissue. Each species has a single opening that serves as both the mouth and the anus. That shared opening is usually surrounded by a ring of tentacles, allowing the animal to capture prey in all directions. Cnidarians have a defined top and bottom and two distinct layers of tissue: an epidermis outer layer and an internal gastrodermis. Between these tissue layers is a layer called the mesoglea. In the form of a medusa, the mesoglea is an elastic, clear jelly with fibers made of protein called collagen. The mesoglea aids in locomotion by elastically recoiling in response to muscle contractions. Cnidarians’ muscles and nerves are located at the base of the tissue layers. The internal space, surrounded by the layers of tissue and mesoglea, is the gut or gastrovascular cavity. In order to capture prey, cnidarians have stinging cells. Located in their tentacles, these stinging cells, called cnidocytes, contain tiny, often toxic harpoons, called nematocysts. Triggered by touch or certain chemicals, nematocysts fire out of the cnidocyte housing at lightning speed. Some hydra can fire these harpoons with an accelerated force equal to 40,000 times the acceleration of gravity. That’s 10,000 times the acceleration force of a space shuttle. Once the nematocyst hits it mark, usually lethal poisons are injected into the prey. The combination of defined tissues, muscles, nerves and a gut allowed ancestral cnidarians to be the first animals on the planet to show animated behavior. The named Cnidaria comes from the Latin word meaning â€Å"nettle. † Features: * Two tissue layers with nerve and muscle tissues * Nematocysts structures contained in special cells called cnidocytes or cnidoblasts that can act in both offense and defense * Two main life forms free-swimming medusa (e. g. jellyfish) or stationary polyp (e. g. anenome) Platyhelminthes Flatworms This particular phylum is one of the lesser-known groups and includes such animals as freshwater planaria, colorful marine polycads and parasitic tapeworms and flukes. The name Platyhelminthes in Latin means â€Å"flat worm. † Fossilized worm tracks in the early Cambrian period (over 550 million years ago) hint at the origin of this body plan. While the actual classification of Platyhelminthes remains controversial, flatworms share distinctive features. They are bilaterally symmetrical with a defined head and tail region and a centralized nervous system containing a brain and nerve cords. Clusters of light-sensitive cells make up what are called eyespots The head region of the flatworm also contains other sense organs, which are connected to the flatworm’s simple brain. Like most animals, except sponges and cnidarians, flatworms possess three tissue layers making them triploblastic. The middle tissue layer, called the mesoderm, helps form true organs, including reproductive organs, such as ovaries, testes, and a penis. Flatworms are hermaphroditic and capable of sexual and asexual reproduction. They are, as their name implies, flat. They have no circulatory system or body cavity (coelom), but they do have an excretory and digestive system. Passive diffusion through the skin supplies oxygen to their body parts. The highly branched gastrovascular (gut) cavity distributes nutrients to their cells. Most species of flatworms are parasitic having evolved protective skin coverings and elaborate attachment mechanisms to allow them to live inside their hosts. Features: * Bilaterally symmetrical with a head and tail * Centralized nervous system * Three tissue layers * No coelom (body cavity), no circulatory system and no hard skeleton Annelida Polychaetes, Earthworms, Leeches Cambrian Explosion The Cambrian period began approximately 543 million years ago. Of the eight major phyla, two were known from fossils of this time Porifera and Cnidaria. Shortly thereafter, a profuse radiation of fossils representing the other animal body plans occurred over a relatively brief span of about 10 million years (by some estimates, 530 million years ago. ) The rest of the animal phyla all evolved during, or shortly after, this evolutionary explosion of new life forms in the Cambrian period. The Annelida body plan is equal in complexity to that of chordates. Far from being lowly worms, these creatures are impressively powerful and capable animals. Annelids are bilaterally symmetrical. They also contain three tissue layers and a true body cavity) or coelom. The coelom surrounds a one-way muscular digestive tract that runs from the mouth to the anus and includes a pharynx, intestine, and other structures. Annelids have a closed-circulatory system with capillaries connecting to arteries and veins, as well as a segmented central nervous system that includes a simple brain located in the head region. One of the distinctive traits of an annelid is that it has many segments, or rings, that comprise its bo4 In fact, Annelida means â€Å"little ring† in Latin. Each segment has a number of bristles, called setae, which help the worm move. The evolution of segmentation is an important step for the annelids because it provides an opportunity for separate regions of the body to specialize in different tasks. The fluid-filled coelom was another important innovation for annelids, as it insulated the gut from body locomotor muscles and provided a hydrostatic fluid skeleton against which the muscle system could work quite effectively. Features: Elongate and bilateral with segmented true body cavity (coelom) * Complete circulatory system with capillaries, arteries and veins * Continuous gut running from mouth to anus with own musculature * Bristle-like structures, called setae, projecting from body (except in leeches) Arthropoda Crustaceans, Spiders, Millipedes, Centipedes, Insects Of all the phyla in the animal kingdom, Arthropoda is by far the largest and most diverse. All arthropods have segmented bodies and are covered in a hard, yet flexible, protective armor called an exoskeleton. Their body muscles attach to the inside of the exoskeleton. The name Arthropoda means â€Å"jointed foot† and refers to their jointed appendages. In order to grow, arthropods must shed their chiton-filled exoskeleton periodically, engaging in an activity called molting. When an arthropod passes through specific developmental stages during molting, it is said to by metamorphosing. Radical changes in body design can come from metamorphosis. For example, an arthropod like a dragonfly can start life in a pond as a swimming larva and then metamorphose into a completely different-looking, winged adult. Arthropods, like all animals, first appeared in the sea, yet became the first animal group to invade land and even take to the skies. (Our direct ancestors, the chordates, didn’t invade land for another 100 million years. ) Once on land, arthropods adapted superbly to the new environment. The incredible diversity and success of the arthropods can be attributed to their extraordinarily adaptable body plan. A key feature of this plan lies in the development of myriad types of appendages (antennae, claws, wings, shields, mouthparts) that allowed arthropods to exploit nearly every niche on Earth. Features: * Hard exoskeleton made of chitin and protein * Possess numerous jointed appendages and a segmented body * Must molt to grow Mollusca Clams, Snails, Slugs, Nautilus, Octopus Animals in this phylum, including chitons, snails, slugs, clams, squid, and octopus, show an amazing degree of diversity. All molluscs have soft bodies. In fact, the name Mollusc means â€Å"soft† in Latin. Most molluscs are covered by a hard shell, which is secreted by a layer of tissue called the mantle that overlays the internal organs of the mollusc. Molluscs also have a strong muscular foot, which is used for movement or grasping. They have gills, a mouth and an anus. One feature unique to molluscs is a file-like, rasping tool called a radula. This structure allows them to scrape algae and other food of rocks and even to drill into prey or catch fish. The diversity of molluscs demonstrates how a basic body plan can evolve into a variety of different forms that allow survival in specific environments. For example, the hard shell in a land-dwelling snail is relatively large and serves to protect the animal. In the fast-swimming squid, however, the shell has been reduced to a small pen-shaped structure. Features: * Rasping organ called a radula- present in all groups except bivalves and Aplacophora * Muscular foot- used for locomotion and other tasks * A sheath of tissue called the mantle that covers body and can secrete the shell (if there is one) * A mantle cavity that houses the gills or lungs * A calcium shell present in most mollusks- some mollusks have greatly reduced their shells, e. g. , squid; while others have completely lost it, e. g. , slugs, nudibranchs, and octopus Echinodermata Sea stars, Sea Lilies, Sea Urchins, Sea Cucumbers, Brittle Stars There are about 6000 living species belonging to the phylum Echinodermata. The bodies of echinoderms are made of tough, calcium-based plates that are often spiny and covered by a thin skin. This tough body is how they get their name- Echinoderms (echino-spiny, derm-skin). Echinoderms are exclusively marine animals. This phylum includes sea stars, sea lilies, urchins, sea cucumbers, sand dollars and brittle stars. Echinoderms do not have a bilateral body plan with a distinct head and tail. Instead, many Echinoderms begin life as bilateral larvae and later develop into radial organisms with five-part symmetry. The mouths of most Echinoderms are located on the underside of their bodies. Echinoderms move, feed, and respire with a unique water-vascular system ending in tube feet. Sea stars use their tube feet to slowly pry open clams, mussels, or other prey. Some sea stars can even extrude their stomachs from their bodies and insert them into the tiny openings between the two shells of bivalves and digest the soft parts inside. An interesting ability of both sea stars and sea urchins is that of regeneration. If body parts such as legs, tube feet, and spines are lost to a predator they can grow back. While most echinoderms are either stationary or slow-moving, methodical animals, they are nevertheless prominent members of the marine environment. Features: * Internal skeleton made of little calcium plates * Five-part symmetry * Special fluid-filled system (called a water vascular system) that operates the tube feet Chordata Tunicates, Lancelets, Vertebrates (including Amphibians, Reptiles, Mammals) The Phylum Chordata includes a wide range of animals from tunicates that look superficially more like sponges, to vertebrates, including fishes, frogs, snakes, birds, and humans. Despite this diversity virtually all chordates share certain features at some point in their lives. These include a stiffening rod, called a notochord, that in many members (e. g. the vertebrates) is later replaced by a bony, vertebral column. In most adult vertebrates, the notochord only remains as a disk between the vertebrae. Another chordate feature is a hollow nerve structure called a dorsal nerve cord that in most members becomes the spinal cord and brain. Also included in the chordate body plan are structures called pharyngeal gill slits, or clefts. These skeletal elements function as jaws and jaw supports, and in some animals take on a variety of other functions. The most conspicuous group of Chordates is the subphylum Vertebrata. Vertebrates include a wide range of animals, from the jawless fishes to the more familiar mammals and birds. Unlike arthropods that wear their skeletons on the outside, chordates have their skeletons on the inside. This design, as in the echinoderms, allows chordates to grow continuously with no need for molting. Such a robust internal skeleton helps vertebrates grow to the size of an African elephant, or support the powerful movements of swimming fish. Another major innovation in the evolution of vertebrates is the appearance of jaws and a bony skull. A quadrupling of genetic information and the appearance of a special population of migratory cells, called neural crest are correlated with the emergence of the all-important vertebrate jaws and skulk. These new features offered a host of new opportunities. Vertebrates fall into two main categories: fishes and a group of animals called tetrapods. Tetrapods developed from a distinct lineage of fishes that possessed unique internal fin bones. These structures eventually aided in supporting the weight of animals on land and laid the foundation for arms and legs and the first amphibians. The development of a shelled, water-retaining egg, the amniotic egg, enabled tetrapods to remain on land and develop into reptiles, birds, and mammals. From an ancient reptilian ancestor, two groups of animals, mammals and birds, independently developed the capacity to maintain constant body temperature.