The Descent of Man

ly embryonic period it is free, and projects beyond
the lower extremities; as may be seen in
the drawing (Fig. 1.) of a human embryo. Even
after birth it has been known, in certain rare
and anomalous cases (52. Quatrefages has lately
collected the evidence on this subject. 'Revue
des Cours Scientifiques,' 1867-1868, p. 625. In
1840 Fleischmann exhibited a human foetus
bearing a free tail, which, as is not always the
case, included vertebral bodies; and this tail
was critically examined by the many anatomists
present at the meeting of naturalists at
Erlangen (see Marshall in Niederlandischen
Archiv fur Zoologie, December 1871).), to form
a small external rudiment of a tail. The os coccyx
is short, usually including only four vertebrae,
all anchylosed together: and these are in a
rudimentary condition, for they consist, with
the exception of the basal one, of the centrum
alone. (53. Owen, 'On the Nature of Limbs,'
1849, p. 114.) They are furnished with some
small muscles; one of which, as I am informed