
On 10th January 1860, Charles Darwin wrote to his good friend the geologist Charles Lyell, humorously describing mankind’s ancestor.
Our ancestor was an animal which breathed water, had a swim-bladder, a great swimming tail, an imperfect skull & undoubtedly was an hermaphrodite! Here is a pleasant genealogy for mankind.-
The full text of this letter is available on the Darwin Correspondence Project website
Your ancestor, maybe! Mine? No way! 😉