CAN ORGANS REDEVELOP NEW FUNCTIONS ? 245 



again. In some flowers sent to us by Mr Cannell 

 of Swanley, the number of petals was increased to 

 six, seven, eight, or nine. In some of these the 

 posterior stamen was sterile and like a staminode ; 

 in others there were five fertile stamens. It is 

 obvious that in this case the staminode had resumed 

 its original function after having lost it. 



SECTION II. 

 Rudimentary institutions. 



The Levirat. In his work entitled Tableau des 

 origines et de Involution de la famille et de la 

 proprie'te', Kovalewsky mentions an instance of a 

 reduced institution which, without having first 

 ceased to be functional, became transformed into 

 another institution. 



" The custom mentioned in the Bible of alloting 

 a woman to the brother of her deceased husband, is 

 explained by the primitive condition of things with 

 regard to the relations between the sexes ; all the 

 women were the common property of the men 

 belonging to one group of relations. Under the 

 name of levirat, this custom survived for several 

 centuries, owing to the idea which arose later on 

 that a wife was property. Consequently, on the 

 death of the husband, the widow, along with his 

 other belongings, was treated as the inheritance of 

 the person whom the death promoted to the rank 

 of chief or head of the family community." 



