COMPARATIVE ANATOMY 



95 



FIG. 17. Muscles of the human ear. 

 From Gray's Anatomy. 



reduced to a mere vestige of 

 what we see in the apes, the 

 nearest relatives we have (Plate 



37)- 



The eyes of some cave- 

 dwelling animals are among 

 our best examples of vestigial 

 structures. In Mammoth Cave, 

 for example, there is an under- 

 ground river of considerable 

 size in which are found fish 

 and Crustacea whose eyes are 

 in different stages of degenera- 

 tion (Fig. 1 8). Of course, liv- 

 ing in total darkness as these 

 animals do, they can have no use for eyes. The presence 

 of eyes in a vestigial condition is an indication of the fact 



that these cave-dwelling 

 species are descended from 

 forms which once lived in 

 the outer world. As eyes 

 are useless to animals living 

 in the dark, natural selection 

 of course no longer will keep 

 the eyes perfect, and the 

 degeneration begun by the 

 withdrawal of natural selec- 



FlG. 18. Three fishes, showing stages in the , \-\ .MI r j_i 



loss of eyes and color. A. Dismal Swamp fish tlOH Will gO Still further, 



(Chologaster avetus), thought to be the ancestor , i 



of the blind fish. B. Agassiz's cave fish (Cholo- DCCaUSC it IS a pOSltlVC Q1S- 

 gaster agassizi) . C. Cave blind fish ( Typhlich- 1 



thys subterraneus}.- From Jordan and Kellogg's advantage tO any SpCClCS tO 



Animal Life, by the courtesy of the authors and . i 



of D. Appieton & GO. waste nutriment on useless 



