Given below are two statements.

Statement I  : Ernst Heckel stated that the embryos never pass through adult stages of ancestors.

Statement II :  Karl Ernst von Baer supported the hypothesis of Ernst Haeckel.

In light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below.

Both statement I and statement II are incorrect.

Statement I is incorrect. It refers to Ernst Haeckel's biogenetic law, which states that embryos pass through stages resembling the adult forms of their evolutionary ancestors. This statement is not accurate because it incorrectly attributes the idea to Ernst Haeckel. In reality, Haeckel proposed the biogenetic law, but the statement presented here misrepresents his idea.

Statement II suggests that Karl Ernst von Baer supported the hypothesis of Ernst Haeckel. This is also inaccurate. Von Baer's observations led to what is known as von Baer's laws, which emphasised that embryos of different species share common features at early stages of development, but these features become more distinct as development progresses. Von Baer did not support Haeckel's biogenetic law.