Vice- President' s Addi^ess. 7 



eyelids, and skin of penis, in which regions it is likewise 

 wanting among the apes, probably in association with im- 

 proved prehension, vision, etc. 



No doubt a certain amount of sexual selection must be 

 associated with hair, but, from every point of view, it is 

 difficult to account for the presence of the axillary and 

 pubic growth of hair. Mammals generally are devoid of 

 these particular patches of hair, and as their appearance in 

 man is synchronous with the attainment of puberty, one is 

 almost entitled to regard them as sexual manifestations. 

 Eeasoning from the fact that during infancy, and especially 

 during flight from danger, the young ape clings by means 

 of its hands and feet to the hairy chest and abdomen of its 

 parents, Dr Lewis Kobinson considers that the axillary and 

 pubic patches of hair of the human subject, appearing as 

 they do coincident with the stage of puberty, may be evolu- 

 tionary remnants of the hair which subserved the function 

 of providing a secure hold for the young anthropoid. 



11. The Muscular System. 



For a considerable time a muscle has been regarded as the 

 " end-organ " of a particular nerve, by means of which the 

 muscle is connected to the central nervous system. It may 

 be that more than one muscle is thus supplied from a nerve 

 trunk, but this is merely regarded as the result of the 

 segmentation of an original muscle-mass, every subdivision 

 of which retains the requisite amount of the original and 

 permanent nerve trunk. The muscle and its nerve being 

 inseparable portions of one organ, it naturally follows that 

 in all endeavours to establish the homologies of muscles, 

 their nerve-supply becomes of paramount importance. 



Viewed from this standpoint, the muscular system of man 

 presents many evidences of a process of evolution whereby 

 muscles have not only adapted themselves to new conditions 

 by considerable changes in general attachments and position, 

 but also by reduction of their numbers, although some 

 observers have maintained that the tendency is towards 

 an increase, and not towards a reduction in numbers. 



Many important muscular evolutions are to be found in 



