The Zoologist — June, 1871. 2613 



The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. By 

 Charles Darwin, M.A., F.R.S., &c. In two volumes. 

 900 pp. 8v'o; 76 illustrations on wood. London: John 

 Murray, Albemarle Street. 1871. 



Twelve years have elapsed since the publication of Mr. Darwin's 

 * Origin of Species,' which was at the time fully, but not ap- 

 provingly, noticed in the pages of the ' Zoologist.' Then, as now, 

 I felt convinced that the hypothesis broached by Mr. Darwin had 

 no foundation whatever on which to stand ; and a naturalist, who 

 was in every respect fully competent to the task, wrote for the 

 'Zoologist' a notice of the work in entire accordance with my own 

 judgment. Now a sequel to the 'Origin of Species' comes before 

 us; and it is in all respects an ap]iropriate sequel to the introduc- 

 tion by jvliich it was preceded. It completes and crowns the work 

 of which the 'Origin of Species' was the foundation stone. Finis 

 coronat opus. The conclusion is not new to me: it is in exact 

 accordance with my anticipations. Man is declared, as I expected 

 would be the case, to be descended from an ascidian : and the 

 process by which Mr. Darwin arrives at this conclusion is care- 

 fully and advisedly set forth by himself in the quotations which 

 follow. 



"We have thus far endeavoured rudely to trace the genealogy of the 

 Vertebrata by the aid of their mutual affinities. We will now look to man 

 as he exists ; and we shall, I think, be able partially to restore during 

 successive periods, but not in due order of time, the structure of our early 

 progenitors. This can be effected by means of the rudiments which man 

 still retains, by the characters which occasionally made their appearance in 

 him through reversion, and by the aid of the principles of morphology and 

 embryology. The various facts to which I shall here allude have been given 

 in the previous chapters. The early progenitors of man were no doubt once 

 covered with hair, both sexes having beards ; their ears were pointed and 

 capable of movement ; and their bodies were provided with a tail having the 

 proper muscles. Their limbs and bodies were also acted on by many 

 muscles which now only occasionally reappear, but are normally present in 

 the Quadrumana. The great artery and nerve of the humerus ran through 

 a supra-condyloid foramen. At this or some earlier period, the intestine 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. VI. 2 D 



