6o8 



THE WONDER OF LIFE 



cosmos even when it is pointed out that vestigial organs 

 are often very variable and apt to be seats of diseases 



(witness appendicitis), 

 and that anachronistic 

 habits form part of 

 what men call crimes. 

 None but the un- 

 imaginative can fail to 

 be impressed by the 

 sight of the pelvic 

 bones of a large whale. 

 Dwindling relics they 

 are of originally huge 

 hip-girdles. They may 

 be connected with ad- 

 jacent muscles a tail 

 muscle, the genital 

 muscles, and a trunk 

 muscle, but they are 

 practically of no mo- 

 ment. Eontgen ray 

 photographs show that 

 they still retain, how- 



FIG. 93.-Vestigialhip-girdleandhind.limb 6Ver > the Characteristic 

 of a whale. 1, Vestige of pelvis or internal architecture of 



hip-girdle; 2, Vestige of thigh-bone or , Q ,. 



femur ; 3, Cartilage corresponding to bone - bometimeS, as 



the tibia. The closely dotted parts tne fig^e g^ows, there 



are cartilage. I he dotted line crossing J . 



2 shows the contour of the pelvis ; are vestiges not Only 



M, muscles attached to these pieces of e .1 hn 



skeleton. (After Struthers.) ot tne P elV1S 



only by the ischiac portion), but of femur and tibia 

 as well. Careful measurement made by Willy Augustin. 



