from the eighteenth century it was known that embryos of different species were much more similar than the adults. in particular, some parts of embryos reflect their evolutionary past. for example, the embryos of land vertebrates develop gill slits like fish embryos. of course, this is only a temporary stage, which gives rise to many structures in the neck of reptiles, birds and mammals. the proto-gill slits are part of a complicated system of development: that is why they persisted.