io8 



E VOL UTION AND DISEASE. 



of great stature "that had on every hand six fingers 

 and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number." 1 

 Many such cases have been observed in modern times. 

 Supernumerary toes and fingers run in families not 

 merely in man but in cats and dogs. Instances are 



FIG. 55. The hand of a baby, showing two forms of super- 

 numerary digits (semi-diagrammatic). 



known in which cats have six-toed kittens as regularly 

 as Dorking fowls present five pedal digits. 



In some specimens the dichotomy extends beyond 

 the finger and involves the metacarpal bone. This is 

 shown in the case of the silvery gibbon (fig. 56) : the 

 fifth digit was reduplicated and the distal end of the 



1 2 Samuel xxi. 20, 21. 



