RUDIMENTARY ORGANS 45 



the arteries, as long as they nourish the foetus; it 

 is the selection of slight changes which supervene at 

 any time during (illegible) of life. 



The less differences of foetus, this has obvious 

 meaning on this view : otherwise how strange that a 

 [monkey] horse, a man, a bat should at one time of 

 life have arteries, running in a manner, which is only 

 intelligibly useful in a fish ! The natural system 

 being on theory genealogical, we can at once see, 

 why foetus, retaining traces of the ancestral form, 

 is of the highest value in classification. 



ix. (ABORTIVE ORGANS.) 



There is another grand class of facts relating to 

 what are called abortive organs. These consist of 

 organs which the same reasoning power that shows 

 us how beautifully these organs in some cases are 

 adapted to certain end, declares in other cases 

 are absolutely useless. Thus teeth in Rhinoceros 1 , 

 whale, narwhal, bone on tibia, muscles which do not 

 move, little bone of wing of Apteryx, bone repre- 

 senting extremities in some snake, little wings 

 within (?) soldered cover of beetles, men and 

 bulls, mammae : filaments without anthers in plants, 

 mere scales representing petals in others, in feather- 

 hyacinth whole flower. Almost infinitely numerous. 

 No one can reflect on these without astonishment, 

 can anything be clearer than that wings are to fly 

 and teeth (to bite), and yet we find these organs 

 perfect in every detail in situations where they 

 cannot possibly be of their normal use 2 . 



The term abortive organ has been thus applied 



1 Some of these examples occur in Origin, Ed. i. pp. 450-51, vi. 

 pp. 619-20. 



2 The two following sentences are written, one down the margin, the 

 other across the page. " Abortive organs eminently useful in classification. 

 Embryonic state of organs. Rudiments of organs." 



