224 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 



sheep are interesting. This variety was obtained 

 by breeding from a sport which appeared in a 

 normal flock, and which transmitted its peculiarity 

 to its descendants. From time to time, in normal 

 flocks, variations occur which are similarly capable 

 of giving rise to Mauchamp breeds. 



As recorded by Willett and Walsham, there 

 have been found in human children cases of a 

 bone stretching from the scapula to the sixth and 

 seventh cervical vertebrae. According to these 

 authors, the bone represents the suprascapula of 

 the tailless amphibia, which the normal homologue 

 in man is the merest edge of the scapula ossified 

 from a separate centre. 



Such cases, as well as cases of polydactylism and 

 of supernumerary mammae, are usually set down as 

 atavistic. However, the attempt to explain by 

 atavism such pathological and teratological peculi- 

 arities must be made with caution. Such inherited 

 anomalies occur very frequently in degenerate 

 families the neuropathic families of Fe're 1 and 

 are associated with other abnormalities equally 

 heritable and certainly not due to atavism. Such 

 are pigmented retinitis, congenital cataract, chro- 

 matic asymmetry of the iris, asymmetry of the 

 pupil, ichthyosis, pigmented erectile spots on the 

 skin, and congenital disposition to bleeding. 



As in a degenerate line of heredity these 

 abnormalities may replace one another iudiffer- 



, La Famille ndvropathique, 1894. Paris, F. Alcan. 



