"Vestigial" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... warble-flies have the jaws so far reduced that they are unable to feed, and the parasitic life of the maggot (see p. 74) extending over eight or nine months in the body of the horse or ox, prepares for a winged existence of probably but a few days. Again in many moths the jaws are reduced or vestigial so that no food can be taken in the winged state, as for example in the 'Eggars' (Lasiocampidae) and the 'Tussocks' (Lymantriidae). It is noteworthy that in these short-lived insects the male is often provided with elaborate sense-organs ...
— The Life-Story of Insects • Geo. H. Carpenter
... "Ah, yes, the jolly brewer. His own best advertisement. How's Pelton reacting to his triumph? And what's his attitude toward his children? I've been worrying about that; vestigial traces of a conscience, ...
— Null-ABC • Henry Beam Piper and John Joseph McGuire
... indications of an idea approaching our modern conceptions of evolution. He felt sure the pig could not have been a special creation, because he had four toes, two of which, with all their bones and their hoofs, are quite useless to him. We now call these toes "vestigial," and know the pig's ancestors used them, walking on four toes and not on two, as at present. Buffon believed there were degenerations as well as developments, and considered the ape a degenerate man. He conceived these changes to be brought about by what he called the favors and ...
— The Meaning of Evolution • Samuel Christian Schmucker |
