Again in flowers, the
representatives of stamens and pistils can be traced to be really these
parts not developed; Koelreuter has shown by crossing a diaecious plant (a
Cucubalus) having a rudimentary pistil{491} with another species having
this organ perfect, that in the hybrid offspring the rudimentary part is
more developed, though still remaining abortive; now this shows how
intimately related in nature the mere rudiment and the fully developed
pistil must be.

{486} In the _Origin_, Ed. i. p. 450, vi. p. 619, the author does
not lay stress on any distinction in meaning between the terms
_abortive_ and _rudimentary_ organs.

{487} _Origin_, Ed. i. p. 450, vi. p. 619.

{488} _Ibid._

{489} This argument occurs in _Origin_, Ed. i. p. 451, vi. p. 619.

{490} _Origin_, Ed. i. p. 451, vi. p. 619, on male mammae. In the
_Origin_ he speaks certainly of the abortive mammae of the cow
giving milk,--a point which is here queried.

{491} _Origin_, Ed. i. p. 451, vi. p. 620.

Abortive organs, which must be considered as useless as far as their
ordinary and normal purpose is concerned, are sometimes adapted to other
ends{492}: thus the marsupial bones, which properly serve to support the
young in the mother's pouch, are present in the male and serve as the
fulcrum for muscles connected only with male functions: in the male of
the marigold flower the pistil is abortive for its proper end of being
impregnated, but serves to sweep the pollen out of the anthers{493}
ready to be borne by insects to the perfect pistils in the other
florets. It is likely in many cases, yet unknown to us, that abortive
organs perform some useful function; but in other cases, for instance in
that of teeth embedded in the solid jaw-bone, or of mere knobs, the
rudiments of stamens and pistils, the boldest imagination will hardly
venture to ascribe to them any function. Abortive parts, even when
wholly useless to the individual species, are of great signification in
the system of nature; for they are often found to be of very high
importance in a natural classification{494}; thus the presence and
position of entire abortive flowers, in the grasses, cannot be
overlooked in attempting to arrange them according to their true
affinities. This corroborates a statement in a previous chapter, viz.
that the physiological importance of a part is no index of its
importance in classification. Finally, abortive