28 THE DESCENT OF MAN. [Part I. 



occurs in about one per cent, of recent skeletons ; but, 

 during ancient times, it appears to have been much more 

 common. Mr. Bask 38 has collected the following evi- 

 dence on this head : Prof. Broca " noticed the perforation 

 in four and a half per cent, of the arm-bones collected in 

 the ' Cimetiere du Sud ' at Paris ; and in the Grotto of 

 Orrony, the contents of which are referred to the Bronze 

 period, as many as eight humeri out of thirty-two were 

 perforated ; but this extraordinary proportion, he thinks, 

 might be due to the cavern having been a sort of ' family 

 vault.' Again, M. Dupont found thirty per cent, of- per- 

 forated bones in the caves of the Valley of the Lesse, be- 

 longing to the Reindeer period; while M. Leguay, in a 

 sort of dolmen at Argenteuil, observed twenty-five per 

 cent, to be perforated ; and M. Pruner-Bey found twenty- 

 six per cent, in the same condition in bones from Vaureal. 

 Nor should it be left unnoticed that M. Pruner-Bey states 

 that this condition is common in Guanche skeletons." 

 The fact that ancient races, in this and several other 

 cases, more frequently present structures which resemble 

 those of the lower animals than do the modern races, is 

 interesting:. One chief cause seems to be that ancient 

 races stand somewhat nearer than modern races in the 

 long line of descent to their remote animal-like progeni- 

 tors. 



The os coccyx in man, though functionless as a tail, 

 plainly represents this j)art in other vertebrate animals. 

 At an early embryonic period it is free, and, as we have 

 seen, projects beyond the lower extremities. In certain 

 rare and anomalous cases it has been known, according to 

 Isidore Geoffroy St.-Hilaire and others, 39 to form a small 



38 " On the Caves of Gibraltar," ' Transact. Internal. Congress of 

 Prehist. Arch.' Third Session, 1869, p. 54. 



39 Quatrefages has lately collected the evideace on this subject, 

 Revue des Cours Scientifiques,' 1867-68, p. 625. 



