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The hairy coat, the short tail, and the arms as long as the 
legs* of the human fcetus point to a quadrumanous or quadru- 
pedal, tailed, hairy ancestor—in fact, a monkey. Much 
of the hairy coat is shed before birth;* but very much 
of it remains to be shed in the next three months. The lower 
limbs are rather longer than the upper when the infant is 
born, but are in an undeveloped state compared to the adult. 
The short tail has disappeared, but a rudiment exists in the 
skeleton. Nowhere, however, have I seen it stated that when 
the infant is born it bears on its body what must be regarded 
as excellent evidence of descent from tailed ancestors; but 
such is the case. At the very base of the vertebral column, 
exactly where the continuation of the vertebre—the tail— 
would be protruded through the flesh, there is a small, deep, 
circular depression, extremely noticeable in newly-born children. 
This depression is exactly like the scar which would be left 
if an animal’s tail had been amputated at the root—when 
the wound had healed. That this circular depression marks 
the place where the tail protruded is shewn by its position; 
and that it is due to the muscles not having occupied the 
space left vacant by the withdrawal or loss of the tail is very 
plain. This circular depression, or tail-mark, which is some- 
times quite a quarter-of-an-inch deep in the infant, becomes 
shallower as the child grows older. In a girl of five years, 
however, what I may call the tail-mark is still very notice- 
able; but in older children it has practically disappeared.t 
It may be concluded that in Man’s ancestors the tail was 
considerably shortened before the hairy coat was lost; and that 
in later generations, when the body became smooth, the tail 
had practically disappeared. The loss of the tail no doubt 
began with disuse. 
* Louis Robinson, op. cit. 
[ tInan adult female Gorilla, in the British Museum, the tail-mark is as 
large as a florin. Its persistence is probably accounted for by the Gorilla not 
having attained the upright carriage. ] 
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