The argument on which the nebular theory of the solar system is founded has other parallels with that wonderful doctrine of Natural Selection by which Darwin revealed the history of life on our globe. It not unfrequently happens that an animal has in its organisation some rudiments of a structure which is obviously of no use to the animal in his present mode of life, and would be unintelligible if we supposed the animal to have been created as he is. A curious instance of a rudimentary structure is furnished in the apteryx, the famous wingless bird which still lives in New Zealand. The arrival of civilisation in New Zealand seems likely to be accompanied with fatal results, so far as the unfortunate apteryx is concerned. Weasels and other fierce enemies have been introduced, with which this quaint bird of antiquity is unable to cope. The apteryx is defenceless against such foes. Nature had not endowed it with weapons wherewith to fight, for it had, apparently, no serious adversaries until these importations appeared in its island home. Unlike the ostrich, the apteryx has neither strength to fight his enemies, nor speed to run away from them, though, like the ostrich, it has no wings for flight; indeed, the apteryx has no wings at all. As its name signifies the apteryx is the wingless bird. Living specimens are still to be seen in the Zoological Gardens. The special point to notice is that, though he has no wings whatever, still there are small rudimentary wing-bones which can be easily seen. You need not be afraid to put your hand on the apteryx, and feel the puny little remnants of wings (Fig. 55). If, having seen the bird in the Zoological Gardens, you go to the Natural History Museum, you will there find a skeleton of the apteryx (Fig. 56). Look near the ribs in the photograph, and there you will see those poor little wing-bones—wing-bones where there never was a wing. From our present point of view these wings are, however, more interesting and instructive than the most perfect wings of an eagle or a carrier-pigeon. Those wings in the apteryx may be incapable of flight, but they are full of instruction to the lover of Nature. As it is certain that they are absolutely of no use whatever to the bird, we may well ask, why are they there? They are not there to give assistance to the bird in his struggle for life; they cannot help him to escape from his enemies or to procure his food; they cannot help him to tend and nurture the young one which is hatched from the egg; they can help him in no way. The explanation of those ineffectual wings is historical. Those bones are present in the apteryx simply because that bird has come down by a long line of descent from birds which were endowed with genuine wings, with wings which enabled them to fly like rooks or partridges. [Illustration: Fig. 55.—THE APTERYX: A WINGLESS BIRD OF NEW ZEALAND.] [Illustration: Fig. 56.—SKELETON OF THE APTERYX, SHOWING RUDIMENTARY WINGS.]