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diff --git a/29739.txt b/29739.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..07137f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/29739.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4528 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Masterpieces of Science:, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Little Masterpieces of Science: + The Naturalist as Interpreter and Seer + +Author: Various + +Editor: George Iles + +Release Date: August 20, 2009 [EBook #29739] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE MASTERPIECES OF SCIENCE: *** + + + + +Produced by Sigal Alon, Marcia Brooks, Fox in the Stars +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +LITTLE MASTERPIECES OF SCIENCE + +[Illustration: Charles R. Darwin.] + + + + +Little Masterpieces +of Science + + +Edited by George Iles + + + + +THE NATURALIST AS INTERPRETER AND SEER + + +_By_ + + + Charles Darwin + Alfred R. Wallace + Thomas H. Huxley + Leland O. Howard + George Iles + + +NEW YORK + +DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY + +1902 + + +Copyright, 1902, by Doubleday, Page & Co. + +Copyright, 1877, by D. Appleton & Co. + +Copyright, 1901, by John Wanamaker + +Copyright, 1895, by G. H. Buek & Co. + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: Obvious printer's errors have been silently +corrected. Hyphenated and accented words have been standardized. See +the end of this file for more information. + + + + +PREFACE + + +To gather stones and fallen boughs is soon to ask, what may be done with +them, can they be piled and fastened together for shelter? So begins +architecture, with the hut as its first step, with the Alhambra, St. +Peter's, the capitol at Washington, as its last. In like fashion the +amassing of fact suggests the ordering of fact: when observation is +sufficiently full and varied it comes to the reasons for what it sees. +The geologist delves from layer to layer of the earth beneath his tread, +he finds as he compares their fossils that the more recent forms of life +stand highest in the scale of being, that in the main the animals and +plants of one era are more allied to those immediately next than to +those of remoter times. He thus divines that he is but exploring the +proofs of lineal descent, and with this thought in his mind he finds +that the collections not only of his own district, but of every other, +take on a new meaning. The great seers of science do not await every jot +and tittle of evidence in such a case as this. They discern the drift of +a fact here, a disclosure there, and with both wisdom and boldness +assume that what they see is but a promise of what shall duly be +revealed. Thus it was that Darwin early in his studies became convinced +of the truth of organic evolution: the labours of a lifetime of all but +superhuman effort, a judicial faculty never exceeded among men, served +only to confirm his confidence that all the varied forms of life upon +earth have come to be what they are through an intelligible process, +mainly by "natural selection." + +The present volume offers from the classic pages of Darwin his summary +of the argument of "The Origin of Species," his account of how that book +came to be written, and his recapitulation of "The Descent of Man." All +this affords a supreme lesson as to the value of observation with a +purpose. When Darwin was confronted with an organ or trait which puzzled +him, he was wont to ask, What use can it have had? And always the answer +was that every new peculiarity of plant, or beast, is seized upon and +held whenever it confers advantage in the unceasing conflict for place +and food. No hue of scale or plume, no curve of beak or note of song, +but has served a purpose in the plot of life, or advanced the action in +a drama where the penalty for failure is extinction. + +As Charles Darwin stood first among the naturalists of the nineteenth +century, his advocacy of evolution soon wrought conviction among the +thinkers competent to follow his evidence and weigh his arguments. The +opposition to his theories though short was sharp, and here he found a +lieutenant of unflinching courage, of the highest expository power, in +Professor Huxley. This great teacher came to America in 1876, and +discoursed on the ancestry of the horse, as disclosed in fossils then +recently discovered in the Far West, maintaining that they afforded +unimpeachable proof of organic evolution. His principal lecture is here +given. + +In a remarkable field of "natural selection" Bates, Wallace and Poulton +have explained the value of "mimicry" as an aid to beasts, birds, +insects, as they elude their enemies or lie unsuspected on the watch for +prey. The resemblances thus worked out through successive generations +attest the astonishing plasticity of bodily forms, a plasticity which +would be incredible were not its evidence under our eyes in every +quarter of the globe. Insects have high economic importance as agents of +destruction: we are learning how to pit one of them against another, so +as to leave a clear field to the farmer and the fruit grower. In this +department a leader is Professor Howard, who contributes a noteworthy +chapter on the successful fight against the pest which threatened with +ruin the orange groves of California. + +To the every-day observer the most enticing field of natural history is +that in which common flowers and common insects work out their unending +co-partnery. A blossom by its scent, its beauty of tint, allures a moth +or bee and thus, in effect, is able to take flight and find a mate +across a county so as to perpetuate its race a hundred miles from home. +Our volume closes with a sketch of the singular ties which thus bind +together the fortunes of blossom and insect, so that at last the very +form of a flower may be cast in the mould of its winged ally. A word is +also spoken regarding the singular relations of late detected between +the world of vegetation and minute forms once deemed parasitic. The pea +and its kindred harbor on their rootlets certain tiny lodgers; the +tenants pay a liberal rent in the form of nitrogen compounds, a striking +interlacement of interests! + +GEORGE ILES. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +DARWIN, CHARLES + +THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES IN SUMMARY + + Varieties merge gradually into species. Animals tend to + increase in geometrical ratio. Varieties diverge in consonance + with diversity of opportunity for life. In the struggle + for existence those which best accord with their surroundings + will survive and propagate their kind. Sexual selection + has put a premium on beauty. The causes which in brief + periods produce varieties, in long periods give rise to + species. Instincts, as of the hive bee, are slowly developed. + Geology supports the theory of Evolution: the changes in time + in the fossil record are gradual. Geographical distribution + lends its corroboration: in each region most of the inhabitants + in every great class are plainly related. A common ancestor + is suggested when we see the similarity of hand, wing and + fin. Embryos of birds, reptiles and fish are closely similar + and unlike adult forms. Slight changes in the course of + millions of years produce wide divergences. 3 + + +DARWIN, CHARLES + +HOW "THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES" CAME TO BE WRITTEN + + During his voyage on the _Beagle_ Darwin saw fossil + armadillos like existing species, and on the islands of the + Galapagos group a gradually increased diversity of species of + every kind. All this suggested that species gradually become + modified. Notes gathered of facts bearing on the question. + Observes that it is the variation between one animal and + another which gives the breeder his opportunity. Reads + Malthus on Population, a work which points out the keen + struggle for existence and that favourable variations tend to + be preserved. In 1842 draws up a brief abstract of the theory + of "natural selection." In 1856 begins an elaborate work on + the same theme, but in 1858, hearing that Wallace has written + an essay advancing an independent theory of natural selection, + offers a summary of his argument to the Linnean Society + of London. Writes "The Origin of Species," which is published + most successfully, November, 1859. 35 + + +DARWIN, CHARLES + +THE DESCENT OF MAN: THE ARGUMENT IN BRIEF + + Since evolution is probable for all other animals, it is + probable for man. The human form has so much in common with + the forms of other animals that community of descent is + strongly suggested. Man, like other creatures, is subject to + the struggle for existence. Evidence shows that it is likely + that man is descended from a tailed and hairy quadruped that + dwelt in trees. Man's mental power has been the chief factor + in his advance, especially in his development of language. + Conscience is due to social instincts, love of approbation, + memory, imagination and religious feeling. Sexual selection + in its effects upon human advancement. 45 + + +WALLACE, ALFRED R. + +MIMICRY AND OTHER PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES AMONG ANIMALS + + The colours of animals are useful for concealment from their + prey, from the creatures upon which they prey. The lion is + scarcely visible as he crouches on the sand or among desert + rocks and stones. Larks, quails and many other birds are so + tinted and mottled that their detection is difficult. The + polar bear, living amid ice and snow, is white. Reptiles and + fish are so coloured as to be almost invisible in the grass + or gravel where they rest. Many beetles and other insects + are so like the leaves or bark on which they feed that + when motionless they cannot be discerned. Some butterflies + resemble dead, dry or decaying leaves so closely as to elude + discovery. Every individual better protected by colour than + others, has a better chance for life, and of transmitting his + hues. Harmless beetles and flies are so like wasps and bees + as to be left alone. 71 + + +HUXLEY, THOMAS H. + +EVOLUTION OF THE HORSE + + The hoof of the horse is simply a greatly enlarged and + thickened nail: four of his five toes are reduced to mere + vestiges. His teeth are built of substances of varying + hardness: they wear away at different rates presenting uneven + grinding surfaces. Probable descent of the horse, link by + link, especially as traced in the fossils of North America. + Evolution has taken a long time: how long the physicist and + the astronomer must decide. 101 + + +HOWARD, LELAND O. + +FIGHTING PESTS WITH INSECT ALLIES + + A scale insect threatened with ruin the orchards of California. + Professor C. V. Riley decided that the pest was a native + of Australia. Mr. A. Hoebele observes in Australia that + the pest is kept down by ladybirds. These are accordingly + sent to California where they destroy the scale insect and + restore prosperity among the fruit-growers. Another pest, + of olive trees, is devoured by an imported ladybird of + another species. This plan extended to Portugal and Egypt + with success. Grasshoppers killed by a fungus cultivated + for the purpose. Introduction into the United States of + the insect which fertilizes the Smyrna fig. 123 + + +ILES, GEORGE + +THE STRANGE STORY OF THE FLOWERS: A CHAPTER IN MODERN BOTANY + + Dress is important, whether natural or artificial. Because + they catch dust on their clothes, bees, moths and butterflies + have brought about myriad espousals of flower with flower. + Colours and scents of blossoms attract insects. A flower + which in form, scent or hue varies gainfully is likely to + survive while others perish. All the parts of a flower are + leaves in disguise. Floral modes of repulsion and defence. + Plants which devour insects, a habit gradually acquired. The + mesquit tree tells of water. Plants believed to indicate + mineral veins. Seeds as emigrants equipped with wings or + hooks. Parasitic plants and their degradation. Tenants that + pay a liberal rent. The gardener as a creator of new flowers. + The modern sugar beet due to Mons. Vilmorin. 139 + + + + +THE NATURALIST AS +INTERPRETER AND +SEER + + + + +THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES: THE ARGUMENT IN SUMMARY + +CHARLES DARWIN + + [Charles Darwin, one of the greatest men of all time, did + more to advance and prove the theory of evolution than + anybody else who ever lived. This he accomplished by virtue + of the highest gifts of observation, experiment, and + generalization. His truthfulness, patience, and calmness of + judgment have never been exceeded by mortal. His works are + published by D. Appleton & Co., New York, together with his + "Life and Letters," edited by his son Francis. From "The + Origin of Species" the argument in summary is here given.] + + +On the view that species are only strongly marked and permanent +varieties, and that each species first existed as a variety, we can see +why it is that no line of demarcation can be drawn between species, +commonly supposed to have been produced by special acts of creation, and +varieties which are acknowledged to have been produced by secondary +laws. On this same view we can understand how it is that in a region +where many species of a genus have been produced, and where they now +flourish, these same species should present many varieties; for where +the manufactory of species has been active, we might expect, as a +general rule, to find it still in action; and this is the case if +varieties be incipient species. Moreover, the species of the larger +genera, which afford the greater number of varieties or incipient +species, retain to a certain degree the character of varieties; for they +differ from each other by a less amount of difference than do the +species of smaller genera. The closely allied species also of a larger +genera apparently have restricted ranges, and in their affinities they +are clustered in little groups round other species--in both respects +resembling varieties. These are strange relations on the view that each +species was independently created, but are intelligible if each existed +first as a variety. + +As each species tends by its geometrical rate of reproduction to +increase inordinately in number; and as the modified descendants of each +species will be enabled to increase by as much as they become more +diversified in habits and structure, so as to be able to seize on many +and widely different places in the economy of nature, there will be a +constant tendency in natural selection to preserve the most divergent +offspring of any one species. Hence, during a long-continued course of +modification, the slight differences of characteristic of varieties of +the same species, tend to be augmented into the greater differences +characteristic of the species of the same genus. New and improved +varieties will inevitably supplant and exterminate the older, less +improved, and intermediate varieties; and thus species are rendered to a +large extent defined and distinct objects. Dominant species belonging +to the larger groups within each class tend to give birth to new and +dominant forms; so that each large group tends to become still larger, +and at the same time more divergent in character. But as all groups +cannot thus go on increasing in size, for the world would not hold them, +the more dominant groups beat the less dominant. This tendency in the +large groups to go on increasing in size and diverging in character, +together with the inevitable contingency of much extinction, explains +the arrangement of all the forms of life in groups subordinate to +groups, all within a few great classes, which has prevailed throughout +all time. This grand fact of the grouping of all organic beings under +what is called the Natural System, is utterly inexplicable on the theory +of creation. + +As natural selection acts solely by accumulating slight, successive, +favourable variations, it can produce no great or sudden modifications; +it can act only by short and slow steps. Hence, the canon of "Nature +makes no leaps," which every fresh addition to our knowledge tends to +confirm, is on this theory intelligible. We can see why throughout +nature the same general end is gained by an almost infinite diversity of +means, for every peculiarity when once acquired is long inherited, and +structures already modified in many different ways have to be adapted +for the same general purpose. We can, in short, see why nature is +prodigal in variety, though niggard in innovation. But why this should +be a law of nature if each species has been independently created no man +can explain. + +Many other facts are, as it seems to me, explicable on this theory. How +strange it is that a bird, under the form of a woodpecker, should prey +on insects on the ground; that upland geese which rarely or never swim, +would possess webbed feet; that a thrush-like bird should dive and feed +on sub-aquatic insects; and that a petrel should have the habits and +structure fitting it for the life of an auk! and so in endless other +cases. But on the view of each species constantly trying to increase in +number, with natural selection always ready to adapt the slowly varying +descendants of each to any unoccupied or ill-occupied place in nature, +these facts cease to be strange, or might even have been anticipated. + +We can to a certain extent understand how it is that there is so much +beauty throughout nature; for this may be largely attributed to the +agency of selection. That beauty, according to our sense of it, is not +universal, must be admitted by every one who will look at some venomous +snakes, at some fishes, and at certain hideous bats with a distorted +resemblance to the human face. Sexual selection has given the most +brilliant colours, elegant patterns, and other ornaments to the males, +and sometimes to both sexes of many birds, butterflies and other +animals. With birds it has often rendered the voice of the male musical +to the female, as well as to our ears. Flowers and fruit have been +rendered conspicuous by brilliant colours in contrast with the green +foliage, in order that the flowers may be easily seen, visited and +fertilized by insects, and the seeds disseminated by birds. How it comes +that certain colours, sounds and forms should give pleasure to man and +the lower animals, that is, how the sense of beauty in its simplest form +was first acquired, we do not know any more than how certain odours and +flavours were first rendered agreeable. + +As natural selection acts by competition, it adopts and improves the +inhabitants of each country only in relation to their co-inhabitants; so +that we need feel no surprise at the species of any one country, +although on the ordinary view supposed to have been created and +specially adapted for that country, being beaten and supplanted by the +naturalized productions from another land. Nor ought we marvel if all +the contrivances in nature be not, as far as we can judge, absolutely +perfect, as in the case even of the human eye; or if some of them be +abhorrent to our ideas of fitness. We need not marvel at the sting of +the bee, when used against an enemy, causing the bee's own death; at +drones being produced in such great numbers for one single act, and +being then slaughtered by their sterile sisters; at the astonishing +waste of pollen by our fir trees; at the instinctive hatred of the queen +bee for her own fertile daughters; at ichneumonidae feeding within the +living bodies of caterpillars; or at other such cases. The wonder +indeed, is, on the theory of natural selection, that more cases of the +want of absolute perfection have not been detected. + +The complex and little known laws governing production of varieties are +the same, as far as we can judge, with the laws which have governed the +production of distinct species. In both cases physical conditions seem +to have produced some direct and definite effect, but how much we cannot +say. Thus, when varieties enter any new station, they occasionally +assume some of the characters proper to the species of that station. +With both varieties and species, use and disuse seem to have produced a +considerable effect; for it is impossible to resist this conclusion when +we look, for instance, at the logger-headed duck, which has wings +incapable of flight, in nearly the same condition as in the domestic +duck; or when we look at the burrowing tucu-tucu, which is occasionally +blind, and then at certain moles, which are habitually blind and have +their eyes covered with skin; or when we look at the blind animals +inhabiting the dark caves of America and Europe. With varieties and +species, correlated variation seems to have played an important part, so +that when one part has been modified other parts have been necessarily +modified. With both varieties and species, reversions to long-lost +characters occasionally occur. How inexplicable on the theory of +creation is the occasional appearance of stripes on the shoulders and +legs of the several species of the horse-genus and of their hybrids! How +simply is this fact explained if we believe that these species are all +descended from a striped progenitor, in the same manner as the several +domestic breeds of the pigeon are descended from the blue and barred +rock pigeon! + +On the ordinary view of each species having been independently created, +why should specific characters, or those by which the species of the +same genus differ from each other, be more variable than generic +characters in which they all agree? Why, for instance, should the colour +of a flower be more likely to vary in any one species of genus, if the +other species possess differently coloured flowers, than if all +possessed the same coloured flowers? If species are only well-marked +varieties, of which the characters have become in a high degree +permanent, we can understand this fact; for they have already varied +since they branched off from a common progenitor in certain characters, +by which they have come to be specifically different from each other; +therefore these same characters would be more likely again to vary than +the generic characters which have been inherited without change for an +immense period. It is inexplicable on the theory of creation why a part +developed in a very unusual manner in one species alone of a genus, and +therefore, as we may naturally infer, of great importance to that +species, should be eminently liable to variation; but, on our view, +this part has undergone, since the several species branched off from a +common progenitor, an unusual amount of variability and modification, +and therefore we might expect the part generally to be still variable. +But a part may be developed in the most unusual manner, like the wing of +a bat, and yet not be more variable than any other structure, if the +part be common to many subordinate forms, that is, if it has been +inherited for a very long period; for in this case it will have been +rendered constant by long-continued natural selection. + +Glancing at instincts, marvellous as some are, they offer no greater +difficulty than do corporeal structures on the theory of the natural +selection of successive, slight, but profitable modifications. We can +thus understand why nature moves by graduated steps in endowing certain +animals of the same class with their several instincts. I have attempted +to show how much light the principle of gradation throws on the +admirable architectural powers of the hive-bee. Habit no doubt often +comes into play in modifying instincts; but it certainly is not +indispensable, as we see in the case of neuter insects, which leave no +progeny to inherit the effects of long-continued habit. On the view of +all the species of the same genus having descended from a common parent, +and having inherited much in common, we can understand how it is that +allied species, when placed under widely different conditions of life, +yet follow nearly the same instincts; why the thrushes of temperate and +tropical South America, for instance, line their nests with mud like our +British species. On the view of instincts having been slowly acquired +through natural selection, we need not marvel at some instincts being +not perfect and liable to mistakes, and at many instincts causing other +animals to suffer. + +If species be only well-marked and permanent varieties, we can see at +once why their crossed offspring should follow the same complex laws in +their degrees and kinds of resemblance to their parents--in being +absorbed into each other by successive crosses, and in other such +points--as do the crossed offspring of acknowledged varieties. This +similarity would be a strange fact, if species had been independently +created and varieties had been produced through secondary laws. + +If we admit that the geological record is imperfect to an extreme +degree, then the facts, which the record does give, strongly support the +theory of descent with modification. New species have come on the stage +slowly and at successive intervals; and the amount of change after equal +intervals of time, is widely different in different groups. The +extinction of species and of whole groups of species, which has played +so conspicuous a part in the history of the organic world, almost +inevitably follows from the principle of natural selection; for old +forms are supplanted by new and improved forms. Neither single species +nor groups of species reappear when the chain of ordinary generation is +once broken. The gradual diffusion of dominant forms, with the slow +modification of their descendants, causes the forms of life, after long +intervals of time, to appear as if they had changed simultaneously +throughout the world. The fact of the fossil remains of each formation +being in some degree intermediate in character between the fossils in +the formations above and below, is simply explained by their +intermediate position in the chain of descent. The grand fact that all +extinct beings can be classed with all recent beings, naturally follows +from the living and the extinct being the offspring of common parents. +As species have generally diverged in character during their long course +of descent and modification, we can understand why it is that the more +ancient forms, or early progenitors of each group, so often occupy a +position in some degree intermediate between existing groups. Recent +forms are generally looked upon as being, on the whole, higher in the +scale of organization than ancient forms; and they must be higher, in so +far as the later and more improved forms have conquered the older and +less improved forms in the struggle for life; they have also generally +had their organs more specialized for different functions. This fact is +perfectly compatible with numerous beings still retaining simple but +little improved structures, fitted for simple conditions of life; it is +likewise compatible with some forms having retrograded in organization, +by having become at each stage of descent better fitted for new and +degraded habits of life. Lastly, the wonderful law of the long endurance +of allied forms on the same continent--of marsupials [as kangaroos] in +Australia, of edentata [as armadillos, sloths, and anteaters] in +America, and other such cases--is intelligible, for within the same +country the existing and the extinct will be closely allied by descent. + +Looking to geographical distribution, if we admit that there has been +during the long course of ages much migration from one part of the world +to another, owing to former climatical and geographical changes and to +the many occasional and unknown means of dispersal, then we can +understand, on the theory of descent with modification, most of the +great leading facts in distribution. We can see why there should be so +striking a parallelism in the distribution of organic beings throughout +space, and in their geological succession throughout time; for in both +cases the beings have been connected by the bond of ordinary generation, +and the means of modification have been the same. We see the full +meaning of the wonderful fact, which has struck every traveller, namely, +that on the same continent, under the most diverse conditions, under +heat and cold, on mountain and lowland, on deserts and marshes, most of +the inhabitants within each great class are plainly related; for they +are the descendants of the same progenitors and early colonists. On this +same principle of former migration, combined in most cases with +modification, we can understand by the aid of the Glacial period, the +identity of some few plants and the close alliance of many others, on +the most distant mountains, and in the northern and southern temperate +zones; and likewise the close alliance of some of the inhabitants of the +sea in the northern and southern temperate latitudes, though separated +by the whole inter-tropical ocean. Although two countries may present +physical conditions as closely similar as the same species ever acquire, +we need feel no surprise at their inhabitants being widely different, if +they have been for a long period completely sundered from each other; +for as the relation of organism to organism is the most important of all +relations, and as the two countries will have received colonists at +various periods and in different proportions, from some other country or +from each other, the course of modification in the two areas will +inevitably have been different. + +On this view of migration, with subsequent modification, we see why +oceanic islands are inhabited by only few species, but of these, why +many are peculiar or endemic forms. We clearly see why species belonging +to those groups of animals which cannot cross wide spaces of the ocean, +as frogs and terrestrial mammals, do not inhabit oceanic islands; and +why, on the other hand, new and peculiar species of bats, animals which +can traverse the ocean, are often found on islands far distant from any +continent. Such cases as the presence of peculiar species of bats on +oceanic islands and the absence of all other terrestrial mammals, are +facts utterly inexplicable on the theory of independent acts of +creation. + +The existence of closely allied representative species in any two areas, +implies on the theory of descent with modification, that the same +parent-forms formerly inhabited both areas: and we almost invariably +find that wherever many closely allied species inhabit two areas, some +identical species are still common to both. Wherever many closely allied +yet distant species occur, doubtful forms and varieties belonging to the +same groups likewise occur. It is a rule of high generality that the +inhabitants of each area are related to the inhabitants of the nearest +source whence immigrants might have been derived. We see this in the +striking relation of nearly all the plants and animals of the Galapagos +Archipelago, of Juan Fernandez, and of the other American islands, to +the plants and animals of the neighbouring American mainland; and of +those of the Cape Verde Archipelago, and of the other African islands to +the African mainland. It must be admitted that these facts receive no +explanation on the theory of creation. + +The fact, as we have seen, that all past and present organic beings can +be arranged within a few great classes, in groups subordinate to groups, +and with the extinct groups often falling in between the recent groups, +is intelligible on the theory of natural selection with its +contingencies of extinction and divergence of character. On these same +principles we see how it is that the mutual affinities of the forms +within each class are so complex and circuitous. We see why certain +characters are far more serviceable than others for classification; why +adaptive characters derived from rudimentary parts, though of no service +to the beings, are often of high classificatory value; and why +embryological characters are often the most valuable of all. The real +affinities of all organic beings, in contradistinction to their adaptive +resemblances, are due to inheritance or community of descent. The +Natural System is a genealogical arrangement, with the acquired grades +of difference, marked by the terms, varieties, species, genera, +families, etc.; and we have to discover the lines of descent by the most +permanent characters, whatever they may be, and of however slight vital +importance. + +The similar framework of bones in the hand of a man, wing of a bat, fin +of the porpoise, and leg of the horse--the same number of vertebrae +forming the neck of the giraffe and of the elephant--and innumerable +other such facts, at once explain themselves on the theory of descent +with slow and slight successive modifications. The similarity of pattern +in the wing and in the leg of a bat, though used for such different +purpose--in the jaws and legs of a crab--in the petals, stamens, and +pistils of a flower, is likewise, to a large extent, intelligible on +the view of the gradual modification of parts or organs, which were +aboriginally alike in an early progenitor in each of these classes. On +the principle of successive variations not always supervening at an +early age, and being inherited at a corresponding not early period of +life, we clearly see why the embryos of mammals, birds, reptiles, and +fishes should be so closely similar, and so unlike the adult forms. We +may cease marvelling at the embryo of an air-breathing mammal or bird +having branchial slits and arteries running in loops, like those of a +fish which has to breathe the air dissolved in water by the aid of +well-developed branchiae [gills]. + +Disuse, aided sometimes by natural selection, will often have reduced +organs when rendered useless under changed habits or conditions of life; +and we can understand on this view the meaning of rudimentary organs. +But disuse and selection will generally act on each creature, when it +has come to maturity and has to play its full part in the struggle for +existence, and will thus have little power in an organ during early +life; hence the organ will not be reduced or rendered rudimentary at +this early age. The calf, for instance, has inherited teeth, which never +cut through the gums of the upper jaw, from an early progenitor having +well-developed teeth; and we may believe, that the teeth in the mature +animal were formerly reduced by disuse, owing to the tongue and palate, +or lips, having become excellently fitted through natural selection to +browse without their aid; whereas in the calf, the teeth have been left +unaffected, and on the principle of inheritance at corresponding ages +have been inherited from a remote period to the present day. On the view +of each organism with all its separate parts having been specially +created, how utterly inexplicable is it that organs bearing the plain +stamp of inutility, such as the teeth in the embryonic calf or the +shrivelled wings under the soldered wing covers of many beetles, should +so frequently occur. Nature may be said to have taken pains to reveal +her scheme of modification, by means of rudimentary organs, of +embryological and homologous [corresponding] structures, but we are too +blind to understand her meaning. + +I have now recapitulated the facts and considerations which have +thoroughly convinced me that species have been modified, during a long +course of descent. This has been effected chiefly through the natural +selection of numerous successive, slight, favourable variations; aided +in an important manner by the inherited effects of the use and disuse of +parts; and in an unimportant manner, that is, in relation to adaptive +structures, whether past or present, by the direct action of external +conditions, and by variations which seem to us in our ignorance to arise +spontaneously. It appears that I formerly underrated the frequency and +value of these latter forms of variation, as leading to permanent +modifications of structure independently of natural selection. But as +my conclusions have lately been much misrepresented, and it has been +stated that I attribute the modification of species exclusively to +natural selection, I may be permitted to remark that in the first +edition of this work, and subsequently, I placed in a most conspicuous, +position--namely, at the close of the Introduction--the following words: +"I am convinced that natural selection has been the main but not the +exclusive means of modification." This has been of no avail. Great is +the power of steady misrepresentation; but the history of science shows +that fortunately this power does not long endure. + +It can hardly be supposed that a false theory would explain, in so +satisfactory a manner as does the theory of natural selection, the +several large classes of facts above specified. It has recently been +objected that this is an unsafe method of arguing; but it is a method +used in judging the common events of life, and has often been used by +the greatest natural philosophers. The undulatory theory of light has +thus been arrived at; and the belief in the revolution of the earth on +its own axis was until lately supported by hardly any direct evidence. +It is no valid objection that science as yet throws no light on the far +higher problems of the essence of the origin of life. Who can explain +what is the essence of the attraction of gravity? No one now objects to +following out the results consequent on this unknown element of +attraction; notwithstanding that Leibnitz formerly accused Newton of +introducing "occult qualities and miracles into philosophy." + +I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock +the religious feelings of any one. It is satisfactory, as showing how +transient such impressions are, to remember that the greatest discovery +ever made by man, namely, the law of the attraction of gravity, was also +attacked by Leibnitz, "as subversive of natural, and inferentially of +revealed religion." A celebrated author and divine has written to me +that "he has gradually learned to see that it is just as noble a +conception of the Deity to believe that He created a few original forms +capable of self-development into other and needful forms, as to believe +that He required a fresh act of creation to supply the voids caused by +the action of His laws." + +Why, it may be asked, until recently did nearly all the most eminent +living naturalists and geologists disbelieve in the mutability of +species? It cannot be asserted that organic beings in a state of nature +are subject to no variation; it cannot be proved that the amount of +variation in the course of long ages is a limited quantity; no clear +distinction has been, or can be, drawn between species and well-marked +varieties. It cannot be maintained that species when intercrossed are +invariably sterile and varieties invariably fertile; or that sterility +is a special endowment and sign of creation. The belief that species +were immutable productions was almost unavoidable as long as the +history of the world was thought to be of short duration; and now that +we have acquired some idea of the lapse of time, we are too apt to +assume, without proof, that the geological record is so perfect that it +would have afforded us plain evidence of the mutation of species, if +they had undergone mutation. + +But the chief cause of our natural unwillingness to admit that one +species has given birth to other and distinct species, is that we are +always slow in admitting great changes of which we do not see the steps. +The difficulty is the same as that felt by so many geologists, when +Lyell first insisted that long lines of inland cliffs had been formed, +and great valleys excavated, by the agencies which we still see at work. +The mind cannot possibly grasp the full meaning of the term of even a +million years; it cannot add up and perceive the full effects of many +slight variations, accumulated during an almost infinite number of +generations. + +Although I am fully convinced of the truth of the views given in this +volume under the form of an abstract, I by no means expect to convince +experienced naturalists whose minds are stocked with a multitude of +facts all viewed, during a long course of years, from a point of view +directly opposite to mine. It is so easy to hide our ignorance under +such expressions as the "plan of creation," "unity of design," etc., and +to think that we give an explanation when we only restate a fact. Any +one whose disposition leads him to attach more weight to unexplained +difficulties than to the explanation of a certain number of facts will +certainly reject the theory. A few naturalists, endowed with much +flexibility of mind, and who have already begun to doubt the +immutability of species, may be influenced by this volume; but I look +with confidence to the future, to young and rising naturalists, who will +be able to view both sides of the question with impartiality. Whoever is +led to believe that species are mutable will do good service by +conscientiously expressing his conviction; for thus only can the load of +prejudice by which this subject is overwhelmed be removed. + +Several eminent naturalists have of late published their belief that a +multitude of reputed species in each genus are not real species; but +that other species are real, that is, have been independently created. +This seems to me a strange conclusion to arrive at. They admit that a +multitude of forms, which till lately they themselves thought were +special creations, and which are still thus looked at by the majority of +naturalists, and which consequently have all the external characteristic +features of true species--they admit that these have been produced by +variation, but they refuse to extend the same view to other and slightly +different forms. Nevertheless, they do not pretend that they can define, +or even conjecture, which are the created forms of life, and which are +those produced by secondary laws. They admit variation as a true cause +in one case, they arbitrarily reject it in another, without assigning +any distinction in the two cases. The day will come when this will be +given as a curious illustration of the blindness of preconceived +opinion. These authors seem no more startled at a miraculous act of +creation than at an ordinary birth. But do they really believe that at +innumerable periods in the earth's history certain elemental atoms have +been commanded suddenly to flash into living tissues? Do they believe +that at each supposed act of creation one individual or many were +produced? Were all the infinite numerous kinds of animals and plants +created as eggs or seed, or as full grown? and in the case of mammals, +were they created bearing the false marks of nourishment from the +mother's womb? Undoubtedly some of these same questions cannot be +answered by those who believe in the appearance or creation of only a +few forms of life, or of some one form alone. It has been maintained by +several authors that it is as easy to believe in the creation of a +million beings as of one; but Maupertuis's philosophical axiom "of least +action" leads the mind more willingly to admit the smaller number; and +certainly we ought not to believe that innumerable beings within each +great class have been created with plain, but deceptive, marks of +descent from a single parent. + +As a record of a former state of things, I have retained in the +foregoing paragraphs, and elsewhere, several sentences which imply that +naturalists believe in the separate creation of each species; and I have +been much censured for having thus expressed myself. But undoubtedly +this was the general belief when the first edition of the present work +appeared. I formerly spoke to very many naturalists on the subject of +evolution, and never once met with any sympathetic agreement. It is +probable that some did then believe in evolution, but they were either +silent or expressed themselves so ambiguously that it was not easy to +understand their meaning. Now, things are wholly changed, and almost +every naturalist admits the great principle of evolution. There are, +however, some who still think that species have suddenly given birth, +through quite unexplained means, to new and totally different forms. +But, as I have attempted to show, weighty evidence can be opposed to the +admission of great and abrupt modifications. Under a scientific point of +view, and as leading to further investigation, but little advantage is +gained by believing that new forms are suddenly developed in an +inexplicable manner from old and widely different forms, over the old +belief in the creation of species from the dust of the earth. + +It may be asked how far I extend the doctrine of the modification of +species. The question is difficult to answer, because the more distinct +the forms are which we consider, by so much the arguments in favour of +community of descent become fewer in number and less in force. But some +arguments of the greatest weight extend very far. All the members of +whole classes are connected together by a chain of affinities, and all +can be classed on the same principle, in groups subordinate to groups. +Fossil remains sometimes tend to fill up very wide intervals between +existing orders. + +Organs in a rudimentary condition plainly show that an early progenitor +had the organ in a fully developed condition, and this in some cases +implies an enormous amount of modification in the descendants. +Throughout whole classes various structures are formed on the same +pattern, and at a very early age the embryos closely resemble each +other. Therefore I cannot doubt that the theory of descent with +modification embraces all the members of the same great class or +kingdom. I believe that animals are descended from at most only four or +five progenitors, and plants from an equal or lesser number. + +Analogy would lead me one step further, namely, to the belief that all +animals and plants are descended from some one prototype. But analogy +may be a deceitful guide. Nevertheless all living things have much in +common, in their chemical composition, their cellular structure, their +laws of growth, and their liability to injurious influences. We see this +even in so trifling a fact as that the same poison often similarly +affects plants and animals; or that the poison secreted by the gall-fly +produces monstrous growths on the wild rose or oak tree. With all +organic beings, excepting perhaps some of the very lowest, sexual +reproduction seems to be essentially similar. With all, as far as is at +present known, the germinal vesicle is the same; so that all organisms +start from a common origin. If we look even to the two main +divisions--namely, to the animal and vegetable kingdoms--certain low +forms are so far intermediate in character that naturalists have +disputed to which kingdom they should be referred. As Professor Asa Gray +has remarked, "the spores and other reproductive bodies of many of the +lower algae may claim to have first a characteristically animal, and then +an unequivocally vegetable existence." Therefore, on the principle of +natural selection with divergence of character, it does not seem +incredible that, from some such low and intermediate form, both animals +and plants may have been developed; and, if we admit this, we must +likewise admit that all the organic beings which have ever lived on this +earth may be descended from some one primordial form. But this inference +is chiefly grounded on analogy, and it is immaterial whether or not it +is accepted. No doubt it is possible, as Mr. G. H. Lewes has urged, that +at the first commencement of life many different forms were evolved; but +if so, we may conclude that only a very few have left modified +descendants. For, as I have recently remarked in regard to the members +of each great kingdom, such as the Vertebrata, Articulata, etc., we +have distinct evidence in their embryological, homologous, and +rudimentary structures, that within each kingdom all the members are +descended from a single progenitor. + +When the views advanced by me in this volume, and by Mr. Wallace, or +when analogous views on the origin of species are generally admitted, we +can dimly foresee that there will be a considerable revolution in +natural history. Systematists will be able to pursue their labours as at +present; but they will not be incessantly haunted by the shadowy doubt +whether this or that form be a true species. This, I feel sure and I +speak after experience, will be no slight relief. The endless disputes +whether or not some fifty species of British brambles are good species +will cease. Systematists will have only to decide (not that this will be +easy) whether any form be sufficiently constant and distinct from other +forms, to be capable of definition; and if definable, whether the +differences be sufficiently important to deserve a specific name. This +latter point will become a far more essential consideration than it is +at present; for differences, however slight, between any two forms, if +not blended by intermediate gradations, are looked at by most +naturalists as sufficient to raise both forms to the rank of species. + +Hereafter we shall be compelled to acknowledge that the only distinction +between species and well-marked varieties is, that the latter are known, +or believed to be connected at the present day by intermediate +gradations, whereas species were formerly thus connected. Hence, without +rejecting the considerations of the present existence of intermediate +gradations between any two forms, we shall be led to weigh more +carefully and to value higher the actual amount of difference between +them. It is quite possible that forms now generally acknowledged to be +merely varieties may hereafter be thought worthy of specific names; and +in this case scientific and common language will come into accordance. +In short, we shall have to treat species in the same manner as those +naturalists treat genera, who admit that genera are merely artificial +combinations made for convenience. This may not be a cheering prospect; +but we shall at least be freed from the vain search for the undiscovered +and undiscoverable essence of the term species. + +The other and more general departments of natural history will rise +greatly in interest. The terms used by naturalists, of affinity, +relationship, community of type, paternity, morphology [the science of +organic form], adaptive characters, rudimentary and aborted organs, +etc., will cease to be metaphorical and will have a plain signification. +When we no longer look at an organic being as a savage looks at a ship, +as something wholly beyond his comprehension; when we regard every +production of nature as one which has had a long history; when we +contemplate every complex structure and instinct as the summing up of +many contrivances, each useful to the possessor, in the same way as any +great mechanical invention is the summing up of the labour, the +experience, the reason, and even the blunders of numerous workmen; when +we thus view each organic being, how far more interesting--I speak from +experience--does the study of natural history become! + +A grand and almost untrodden field of inquiry will be opened, on the +causes and laws of variation, on correlation, on the effects of use and +disuse, on the direct action of external conditions, and so forth. The +study of domestic productions will rise immensely in value. A new +variety raised by man will be a more important and interesting subject +for study than one more species added to the infinitude of already +recorded species. Our classifications will come to be, as far as they +can be so made, genealogies; and will then truly give what may be called +the plan of creation. The rules for classifying will no doubt become +simpler when we have a definite object in view. We possess no pedigree +or armorial bearings; and we have to discover and trace the many +diverging lines of descent in our natural genealogies, by characters of +any kind which have long been inherited. Rudimentary[1] organs will +speak infallibly with respect to the nature of long-lost structures. +Species and groups of species which are called aberrant, and which may +fancifully be called living fossils, will aid us in forming a picture of +the ancient forms of life. Embryology will often reveal to us the +structure, in some degree obscured, of the prototypes of each great +class. + +When we can feel assured that all the individuals of the same species, +and all the closely allied species of most genera, have, within a not +very remote period descended from one parent, and have migrated from +some one birth-place; and when we better know the many means of +migration, then, by the light which geology now throws, and will +continue to throw, on former changes of climate and of the level of the +land, we shall surely be enabled to trace in an admirable manner the +former migrations of the inhabitants of the whole world. Even at +present, by comparing the differences between the inhabitants of the sea +on the opposite sides of a continent, and the nature of the various +inhabitants on that continent in relation to their apparent means of +immigration, some light can be thrown on ancient geography. + +The noble science of geology loses glory from the extreme imperfection +of the record. The crust of the earth, with its imbedded remains, must +not be looked at as a well-filled museum, but as a poor collection made +at hazard and at rare intervals. The accumulation of each great +fossiliferous formation will be recognized as having depended on an +unusual occurrence of favourable circumstances, and the blank intervals +between the successive stages as having been of vast duration. But we +shall be able to gauge with some security the duration of these +intervals by a comparison of the preceding and succeeding organic forms. +We must be cautious in attempting to correlate as strictly +contemporaneous two formations, which do not include many identical +species, by the general succession of the forms of life. + +As species are produced and exterminated by slowly acting and still +existing causes, and not by miraculous acts of creation; and as the most +important of all causes of organic change is one which is almost +independent of altered and perhaps suddenly altered physical conditions, +namely, the mutual relation of organism to organism--the improvement of +one organism entailing the improvement or the extermination of others; +it follows, that the amount of organic change in the fossils of +consecutive formations probably serves as a fair measure of the +relative, though not actual lapse of time. A number of species, however, +keeping in a body might remain for a long period unchanged, while within +the same period, several of these species, by migrating into new +countries and coming into competition with foreign associates, might +become modified; so that we must not overrate the accuracy of organic +change as a measure of time. + +In the future I see open fields for far more important researches. +Psychology will be securely based on the foundation already well laid by +Mr. Herbert Spencer, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental +power and capacity by gradation. Much light will be thrown on the +origin of man and his history. + +Authors of the highest eminence seem to be fully satisfied with the view +that each species has been independently created. To my mind it accords +better with what we know of the laws impressed on matter by the Creator, +that the production and extinction of the past and present inhabitants +of the world should have been due to secondary causes, like those +determining the birth and death of the individual. When I view all +beings as not special creations, but as the lineal descendants of some +few beings which lived long before the first bed of the Cambrian system +was deposited, they seem to me to become ennobled. Judging from the +past, we may safely infer that not one living species will transmit its +unaltered likeness to a distant futurity. And of the species now living +very few will transmit progeny of any kind to a far distant futurity; +for the manner in which all organic beings are grouped, shows that the +greater number of species in each genus, and all the species in many +genera, have left no descendants, but have become utterly extinct. We +can so far take a prophetic glance into futurity as to foretell that it +will be the common and widely spread species, belonging to the larger +and dominant groups within each class, which will ultimately prevail and +procreate new and dominant species. As all the living forms of life are +the lineal descendants of those which lived long before the Cambrian +epoch, we may feel certain that the ordinary succession by generation +has never once been broken, and that no cataclysm has desolated the +whole world. Hence, we may look with some confidence to a secure future +of great length. And as natural selection works solely by and for the +good of each being, all corporeal and mental endowments will tend to +progress toward perfection. + +It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many +plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various +insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, +and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different +from each other, and dependent upon each other in so complex a manner, +have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws taken in the +largest sense, being growth with reproduction; Inheritance which is +almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct +action of the conditions of life, and from use and disuse: a Ratio of +Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence +to Natural Selection, entailing divergence of Character and the +Extinction of less improved forms. Thus, from the war of nature, from +famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of +conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly +follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several +powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms +or into one; and that, while this planet has gone circling on according +to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms +most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _Vestigial_ is now preferred to _rudimentary_ as a term.--Ed. + + + + +HOW "THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES" CAME TO BE WRITTEN. + + [An extract from the autobiography of Charles Darwin, in "The + Life and Letters of Charles Darwin," New York, D. Appleton & + Co.] + + +From September, 1854, I devoted my whole time to arranging my huge pile +of notes, to observing and to experimenting in relation to the +transmutation of species. During the voyage of the _Beagle_ I had been +deeply impressed by discovering in the Pampean formation great fossil +animals covered with armour like that on the existing armadillos; +secondly, by the manner in which closely allied animals replace one +another in proceeding southwards over the continent; and, thirdly, by +the South American character of most of the productions of the Galapagos +Archipelago, and more especially by the manner in which these differ +slightly on each island of the group, none of these islands appearing to +be very ancient in a geological sense. + +It was evident that such facts as these, as well as many others, could +only be explained on the supposition that species gradually become +modified; and the subject haunted me. But it was equally evident that +neither the action of the surrounding conditions, nor the will of the +organisms (especially in the case of plants) could account for the +innumerable cases in which organisms of every kind are beautifully +adapted to their habits of life--for instance, a woodpecker or a +tree-frog to climb trees, or a seed for dispersal by hooks or plumes. I +had always been much struck by such adaptations, and until these could +be explained it seemed to me almost useless to endeavour to prove by +indirect evidence that species have been modified. + +After my return to England it appeared to me that by following the +example of Lyell in geology,[2] and by collecting all facts that bore in +any way on the variation of animals and plants under domestication and +nature, some light might perhaps be thrown on the whole subject. My +first note-book was opened in July, 1837. I worked on true Baconian +principles, and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale, +more especially with respect to domesticated productions, by printed +enquiries, by conversation with skilful breeders and gardeners and by +extensive reading. When I see the list of books of all kinds which I +read and abstracted, including whole series of journals and +translations, I am surprised at my industry. I soon perceived that +selection was the keystone of man's success in making useful races of +animals and plants. But how selection could be applied to organisms +living in a state of nature remained for some time a mystery to me. + +In October, 1838, that is fifteen months after I had begun my systematic +enquiry, I happened to read for amusement "Malthus on Population," and +being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which +everywhere goes on from long-continued observation of the habits of +animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances +favourable variations would tend to be preserved and unfavourable ones +to be destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of a new +species. Here then I had at last got a theory by which to work; but I +was so anxious to avoid prejudice that I determined not for some time to +write even the briefest sketch of it. In June, 1842, I first allowed +myself the satisfaction of writing a very brief abstract of my theory in +pencil in 35 pages; and this was enlarged during the summer of 1844 into +one of 230 pages, which I had fairly copied out and still possess. + +But at that time I overlooked one problem of great importance; and it is +astonishing to me, except on the principle of Columbus and his egg, how +I could have overlooked it and its solution. This problem is the +tendency in organic beings descended from the same stock to diverge in +character as they become, modified. That they have diverged greatly is +obvious from the manner in which species of all kinds can be classed +under genera, genera under families, families under sub-orders and so +forth; and I can remember the very spot on the road, whilst in my +carriage, when to my joy the solution occurred to me; and this was long +after I had come to Down. This solution, as I believe, is that the +modified offspring of all dominant and increasing forms tend to become +adapted to many and highly diversified places in the economy of nature. + +Early in 1856 Lyell advised me to write out my views pretty fully, and I +began at once to do so on a scale three or four times as extensive as +that which was afterwards followed in my "Origin of Species;" yet it was +only an abstract of the materials which I had collected and I got +through about half the work on this scale. But my plans were overthrown, +for early in the summer of 1858 Mr. Wallace, who was then in the Malay +Archipelago, sent me an essay "On the tendency of varieties to depart +indefinitely from the original type;" and this essay contained exactly +the same theory as mine.[3] Mr. Wallace expressed the wish that if I +thought well of his essay I should send it to Lyell for perusal. + +The circumstances under which I consented at the request of Lyell and +Hooker to allow of an abstract from my MS., together with a letter to +Asa Gray, dated September 5, 1857, to be published at the same time +with Wallace's essay, are given in the "Journal of the Proceedings of +the Linnean Society," 1858, p. 45. I was at first very unwilling to +consent, as I thought Mr. Wallace might consider my doing so +unjustifiable, for I did not then know how generous and noble was his +disposition. The extract from my MS. and the letter to Asa Gray had +neither been intended for publication, and were badly written. Mr. +Wallace's essay, on the other hand, was admirably expressed and quite +clear. Nevertheless, our joint productions excited very little +attention, and the only published notice of them which I can remember +was by Professor Haughton of Dublin, whose verdict was that all that was +new in them was false, and what was true was old. This shows how +necessary it is that any new idea should be explained at considerable +length in order to arouse public attention. + +In September, 1858, I set to work by the strong advice of Lyell and +Hooker to prepare a volume on the transmutation of species, but was +often interrupted by ill health and short visits to Dr. Lane's +delightful hydropathic establishment at Moor Park. I abstracted the MS. +begun on a much larger scale in 1856, and completed the volume on the +same reduced scale. It cost me thirteen months and ten days' hard labor. +It was published under the title of the "Origin of Species," in +November, 1859. Though considerably added to and corrected in the later +editions, it has remained substantially the same book. + +It is no doubt the chief work of my life. It was from the first highly +successful. The first small edition of 1,250 copies was sold on the day +of publication, and a second edition of 3,000 copies soon afterwards. +Sixteen thousand copies have now (1876) been sold in England; and +considering how stiff a book it is, this is a large sale. It has been +translated into almost every European tongue, even into such languages +as Spanish, Bohemian, Polish and Russian. Even an essay in Hebrew has +appeared on it, showing that the theory is contained in the Old +Testament! The reviews were very numerous; for some time all that +appeared on the "Origin" and on my related books, and these amount +(excluding newspaper reviews) to 265; but after a time I gave up the +attempt in despair. Many separate essays and books on the subject have +appeared; and in Germany a catalogue or bibliography on "Darwinismus" +has appeared every year or two. + +The success of the "Origin" may, I think, be attributed in large part to +my having long before written two condensed sketches and to my having +abstracted a much larger manuscript, which was itself an abstract. By +this means I was enabled to select the more striking facts and +conclusions. I had also, during many years followed a golden rule, +namely, that whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought +came across me, which was opposed to my general results, to make a +memorandum of it without fail and at once; for I had found by experience +that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from the memory +than favourable ones. Owing to this habit very few objections were +raised against my views which I had not at least noticed and attempted +to answer. + +It has sometimes been said that the success of the "Origin" proved "that +the subject was in the air," or "that men's minds were prepared for it." +I do not think that this is strictly true, for I occasionally sounded +not a few naturalists, and never happened to come across a single one +who seemed to doubt about the permanence of species. Even Lyell and +Hooker, though they listened with interest to me, never seemed to agree. +I tried once or twice to explain to able men what I meant by Natural +Selection, but signally failed. What I believe was strictly true is that +innumerable well-observed facts were stored in the minds of naturalists +ready to take their proper places as soon as any theory which would +receive them was sufficiently explained. Another element in the success +of the book was its moderate size; and this I owe to the appearance of +Mr. Wallace's essay; had I published on the scale on which I began to +write in 1856, the book would have been four or five times as large as +the "Origin," and very few would have had the patience to read it. + +I gained much by my delay an publishing from about, 1839, when the +theory was clearly conceived, to 1859; and I lost nothing by it, for I +cared very little whether men attributed most originality to me or +Wallace; and his essay no doubt aided in the reception of the theory. I +was forestalled in only one important point, which my vanity has always +made me regret, namely, the explanation by means of the Glacial period +of the presence of the same species of plants and of some few animals on +distant mountain summits and in the arctic regions. This view pleased me +so much that I wrote it out _in extenso_, and I believe that it was read +by Hooker some years before E. Forbes published in 1846 his celebrated +memoir on the subject. In the very few points in which we differed, I +still think that I was in the right. I have never, of course, alluded in +print to my having independently worked out this view. + +Hardly any point gave me so much satisfaction when I was at work on the +"Origin," as the explanation of the wide difference in many classes +between the embryo and the adult animal, and of the close resemblance of +the embryos within the same class. No notice of this point was taken, as +far as I remember, in the early reviews of the "Origin," and I recollect +expressing my surprise on this head in a letter to Asa Gray. Within late +years several reviewers have given the whole credit to Fritz Muller and +Haeckel, who undoubtedly have worked it out much more fully and in some +respects more correctly than I did. I had materials for a whole chapter +on the subject, and I ought to have made the discussion longer; for it +is clear that I failed to impress my readers; and he who succeeds in +doing so deserves, in my opinion, all the credit. + +This leads me to remark that I have almost always been treated honestly +by my reviewers, passing over those without scientific knowledge as not +worthy of notice. My views have been grossly misrepresented, bitterly +opposed and ridiculed, but this has been generally done as, I believe, +in good faith. On the whole, I do not doubt that my works have been over +and over again greatly overpraised. I rejoice that I have avoided +controversies, and this I owe to Lyell, who many years ago, in reference +to my geological works, strongly advised me never to get entangled in a +controversy, as it rarely did any good and caused a miserable loss of +time and temper. + +Whenever I have found out that I have blundered, or that my work has +been imperfect, and when I have been contemptuously criticised, and even +when I have been overpraised, so that I have felt mortified, it has been +my greatest comfort to say hundreds of times to myself that "I have +worked as hard and as well as I could, and no man can do more than +this." I remember when in Good Success Bay, in Tierra del Fuego, +thinking (and, I believe, that I wrote home to the effect) that I could +not employ my life better than in adding a little to Natural Science. +This I have done to the best of my abilities, and critics may say what +they like, but they can not destroy this conviction. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] See Masterpieces of Science, Vol. I, "Earth and Sky," Sir Charles +Lyell on Uniformity in geological change. + +[3] The essay appears in "Natural Selection," London, 1870. + + + + +THE DESCENT OF MAN + +CHARLES DARWIN + + [Concluding chapter of "The Descent of Man," New York, D. + Appleton & Co.] + + +A brief summary will be sufficient to recall to the reader's mind the +more salient points in this work. Many of the views which have been +advanced are highly speculative, and some, no doubt, will prove +erroneous; but I have in every case given the reasons which have led me +to one view rather than to another. It seemed worth while to try how far +the principle of evolution would throw light on some of the more complex +problems in the natural history of man. False facts are highly injurious +to the progress of science, for they often endure long; but false views, +if supported by some evidence, do little harm, for every one takes a +salutary pleasure in proving their falseness; and, when this is done, +one path toward error is closed and the road to truth is often at the +same time opened. + +The main conclusion arrived at in this work, and now held by many +naturalists who are well competent to form a sound judgment, is that man +is descended from some less highly organized form. The grounds upon +which this conclusion rests will never be shaken, for the close +similarity between man and the lower animals in embryonic development, +as well as in innumerable points of structure and constitution, both of +high and of the most trifling importance--the rudiments which he +retains, and the abnormal reversions to which he is occasionally +liable--are facts which cannot be disputed. They have long been known, +but, until recently, they told us nothing with respect to the origin of +man. Now, when viewed by the light of our knowledge of the whole organic +world, their meaning is unmistakable. The great principle of evolution +stands up clear and firm when these groups of facts are considered in +connection with others, such as the mutual affinities of the members of +the same group, their geographical distribution in past and present +times, and their geological succession. It is incredible that all these +facts should speak falsely. He who is not content to look, like a +savage, at the phenomena of Nature as disconnected, cannot any longer +believe that man is the work of a separate act of creation. He will be +forced to admit that the close resemblance of the embryo of man to that, +for instance, of a dog--the construction of his skull, limbs and whole +frame on the same plan with that of other mammals--the occasional +appearance of various structures, for instance, of several distinct +muscles, which man does not normally possess, but which are common to +the Quadrumana--and a crowd of analogous facts--all point in the +plainest manner to the conclusion that man is the co-descendant of other +mammals of a common progenitor. + +We have seen that man incessantly presents individual differences in all +parts of his body and in his mental faculties. These differences or +variations seem to be induced by the same general causes, and to obey +the same laws as with the lower animals. In both cases similar laws of +inheritance prevail. Man tends to increase at a greater rate than his +means of subsistence; consequently he is occasionally subjected to a +severe struggle for existence, and natural selection will have effected +whatever lies within its scope. A succession of strongly marked +variations of a similar nature is by no means requisite; slight +fluctuating differences in the individual suffice in the work of natural +selection. We may feel assured that the inherited effects of the +long-continued use or disuse of parts will have done much in the same +direction with natural selection. Modifications formerly of importance, +though no longer of any special use, are long-inherited. When one part +is modified other parts change through the principle of correlation, of +which we have instances in many curious cases of correlated +monstrosities. Something may be attributed to the direct and definite +action of the surrounding conditions of life, such as abundant food, +heat or moisture; and, lastly, many characters of slight physiological +importance, some indeed of considerable importance, have been gained +through sexual selection. + +No doubt man, as well as every other animal, presents structures, which, +as far as we can judge with our little knowledge, are not now of any +service to him, nor to have been so during any former period of his +existence, either in relation to his general conditions of life, or of +one sex to the other. Such structures cannot be accounted for by any +form of selection, or by the inherited effects of the use and disuse of +parts. We know, however, that many strange and strongly marked +peculiarities of structure occasionally appear in our domesticated +productions, and if the unknown causes which produce them were to act +more uniformly, they would probably become common to all the individuals +of the species. We may hope hereafter to understand something about the +causes of such occasional modifications, especially through the study of +monstrosities; hence, the labours of experimentalists, such as those of +M. Camille Dareste, are full of promise for the future. In general we +can only say that the cause of each slight variation and of each +monstrosity lies much more in the constitution of the organism than in +the nature of the surrounding conditions; though new and changed +conditions certainly play an important part in exciting organic changes +of many kinds. + +Through the means just specified, aided perhaps by others as yet +undiscovered, man has been raised to his present state. But since he +attained to the rank of manhood, he has diverged into distinct races, +or, as they may be more fitly called, subspecies. Some of these, such as +the negro and European, are so distinct that, if specimens had been +brought to a naturalist without any further information, they would +undoubtedly have been considered by him as good and true species. +Nevertheless, all the races agree in so many unimportant details of +structure and in so many mental peculiarities, that these can be +accounted for only by inheritance from a common progenitor; and a +progenitor thus characterized would probably deserve to rank as man. + +It must not be supposed that the divergence of each race from the other +races, and of all from a common stock, can be traced back to any one +pair of progenitors. On the contrary, at every stage in the process of +modification, all the individuals which were in any way best fitted for +their conditions of life, though in different degrees, would have +survived in greater numbers than the less well-fitted. The process would +have been like that followed by man, when he does not intentionally +select particular individuals, but breeds from all the superior +individuals and neglects all the inferior individuals. He thus slowly +but surely modifies his stock and unconsciously forms a new strain. So +with respect to modifications acquired independently of selection, and +due to variations arising from the nature of the organism and the +action of the surrounding conditions, or from changed habits of life, no +single pair will have been modified in a much greater degree than the +other pairs which inhabit the same country, for all will have been +continually blended through free intercrossing. + +By considering the embryological structure of man--the homologies +[parallels] which he presents with the lower animals--the rudiments +which he retains--and the reversions to which he is liable, we can +partly recall in imagination the former condition of our early +progenitors; and can approximately place them in their proper place in +the zoological series. We thus learn that man is descended from a hairy, +tailed quadruped, probably arboreal in its habits [living on or among +trees] and an inhabitant of the Old World. This creature, if its whole +structure had been examined by a naturalist, would have been classed +among the Quadrumana, as surely as the still more ancient progenitor of +the Old and New World monkeys. The Quadrumana and all the higher mammals +are probably derived from an ancient marsupial animal [usually provided +with a pouch for the reception and nourishment of the young, as in the +case of the kangaroo] and this through a long line of diversified forms, +from some reptile-like or some amphibian-like creature, and this again +from some fish-like animal. In the dim obscurity of the past we can see +that the early progenitor of all the Vertebrata must have been an +aquatic animal, provided with branchiae [gills], with the two sexes +united in the same individual, and with the most important organs of the +body (such as the brain and heart) imperfectly or not at all developed. +This animal seems to have been more like the larvae of the existing +marine Ascidians than any other known form. + +The greatest difficulty which presents itself when we are driven to the +above conclusion on the origin of man is the high standard of +intellectual power and of moral disposition which he has attained. But +every one who admits the principle of evolution must see that the mental +powers of the higher animals, which are the same in kind with those of +man, though so different in degree, are capable of advancement. Thus the +interval between the mental powers of one of the higher apes and of a +fish, or between those of an ant and scale-insect, is immense; yet their +development does not offer any special difficulty; for with our +domesticated animals the mental faculties are certainly variable, and +the variations are inherited. No one doubts that they are of the utmost +importance to animals in a state of nature. Therefore, the conditions +are favourable for their development through natural selection. + +The same conclusion may be extended to man; the intellect must have been +all-important to him, even at a very remote period, as enabling him to +invent and use language, to make weapons, tools, traps, etc., whereby +with the aid of his social habits he long ago became the most dominant +of all living creatures. + +A great stride in the development of the intellect will have followed, +as soon as the half-art and half-instinct of language came into use; for +the continued use of language will have reacted on the brain and +produced an inherited effect; and this again will have reacted on the +improvement of language. As Mr. Chauncey Wright has well remarked, the +largeness of the brain in man relatively to his body, compared with the +lower animals, may be attributed in chief part to the early use of some +simple form of language--that wonderful engine which affixes signs to +all sorts of objects and qualities, and excites trains of thought which +would never arise from the mere impression of the senses, or if they did +arise could not be followed out. The higher intellectual powers of man, +such as those of ratiocination, abstraction, self-consciousness, etc., +will have followed from the continued improvement of other mental +faculties; but without considerable culture of the mind, both in the +race and in the individual, it is doubtful whether these high powers +would be exercised and thus fully attained. + +The development of the moral qualities is a more interesting problem. +The foundation lies in the social instincts, including under this term +the family ties. These instincts are highly complex, and in the case of +the lower animals give special tendencies toward certain definite +actions; but the more important elements are love and the distinct +emotion of sympathy. Animals endowed with the social instincts take +pleasure in one another's company, warn one another of danger, defend +and aid one another in many ways. These instincts do not extend to all +the individuals of the species, but only to those of the same community. +As they are highly beneficial to the species they have in all +probability been acquired through natural selection. + +A moral being is one who is capable of reflecting on his past actions +and their motives--of approving of some and disapproving of others; and +the fact that man is the one being who certainly deserves this +designation is the greatest of all distinctions between him and the +lower animals. But in the fourth chapter I have endeavoured to show that +the moral sense follows, firstly, from the enduring and ever-present +nature of the social instincts; secondly, from man's appreciation of the +approbation and disapprobation of his fellows; and, thirdly, from the +high activity of his mental faculties, with past impressions extremely +vivid; and in these latter respects he differs from the lower animals. +Owing to this condition of mind, man cannot avoid looking both backward +and forward and comparing past impressions. Hence, after some temporary +desire or passion has mastered his social instincts, he reflects and +compares the now weakened impression of such past impulses with the +ever-present social instincts; and he then feels that sense of +dissatisfaction which all unsatisfied instincts leave behind them, he +therefore resolves to act differently for the future--and this is +conscience. Any instinct permanently stronger or more enduring than +another gives rise to a feeling which we express by saying that it ought +to be obeyed. A pointer dog if able to reflect on his past conduct would +say to himself, I ought (as indeed we say of him) to have pointed at +that hare and not have yielded to the passing temptation of hunting it. + +Social animals are impelled partly by a wish to aid the members of their +community in a general manner, but more commonly to perform certain +definite actions. Man is impelled by the same general wish to aid his +fellows; but has few or no special instincts. He differs also from the +lower animals in the power of expressing his desires by words, which +thus become a guide to the aid required and bestowed. The motive to give +aid is likewise much modified in man; it no longer consists solely of a +blind instinctive impulse, but is much influenced by the praise or blame +of his fellows. The appreciation and bestowal of praise and blame both +rest on sympathy; and this emotion, as we have seen, is one of the most +important elements of the social instincts. Sympathy, though gained as +an instinct, is also much strengthened by exercise or habit. As all men +desire their own happiness, praise or blame is bestowed on actions or +motives according as they lead to this end; and as happiness is an +essential part of the general good the greatest-happiness principle +indirectly serves as a nearly safe standard of right and wrong. As the +reasoning powers advance and experience is gained the remoter effects of +certain lines of conduct on the character of the individual and on the +general good are perceived; and then the self-regarding virtues come +within the scope of public opinion and receive praise and their +opposites blame. But with the less civilized nations reason often errs, +and many bad customs and base superstitions come within the same scope +and are then esteemed as high virtues and their breach as heavy crimes. + +The moral faculties are generally and justly esteemed as of higher value +than the intellectual powers. But we should bear in mind that the +activity of the mind in vividly recalling past impressions is one of the +fundamental though secondary bases of conscience. This affords the +strongest argument for educating and stimulating in all possible ways +the intellectual faculties of every human being. No doubt, a man with a +torpid mind, if his social affections and sympathies are well developed, +will be led to good actions and may have a fairly sensitive conscience. +But whatever renders the imagination more vivid and strengthens the +habit of recalling and comparing past impressions will make the +conscience more sensitive, and may even somewhat compensate for weak +social affections and sympathies. + +The moral nature of man has reached its present standard partly through +the advancement of his reasoning powers and consequently of a just +public opinion, but especially from his sympathies having been rendered +more tender and widely diffused through the effects of habit, example, +instruction and reflection. It is not improbable that after long +practice virtuous tendencies may be inherited. With the more civilized +races the conviction of the existence of an all-seeing Deity has had a +potent influence on the advance of morality. Ultimately man does not +accept the praise or blame of his fellows as his sole guide, though few +escape this influence, but his habitual convictions, controlled by +reason, afford him the safest rule. His conscience then becomes the +supreme judge and monitor. Nevertheless, the first foundation or origin +of the moral sense lies in the social instincts, including sympathy; and +these instincts, no doubt, were primarily gained, as in the case of the +lower animals, through natural selection. + +The belief in God has often been advanced as not only the greatest but +the most complete of all the distinctions between man and the lower +animals. It is, however, impossible, as we have seen, to maintain that +this belief is innate or instinctive in man. On the other hand, a +belief in all-pervading spiritual agencies seems to be universal, and +apparently follows from a considerable advance in man's reason and from +a still greater advance in his faculties of imagination, curiosity and +wonder. I am aware that the assumed instinctive belief in God has been +used by many persons as an argument for His existence. But this is a +rash judgment, as we should thus be compelled to believe in the +existence of many cruel and malignant spirits, only a little more +powerful than man; for the belief in them is far more general than in a +beneficent Deity. The idea of a universal and beneficent Creator does +not seem to arise in the mind of man until he has been elevated by +long-continued culture. + +He who believes in the advancement of man from some low organized form +will naturally ask, How does this bear on the belief in the immortality +of the soul? The barbarous races of man, as Sir J. Lubbock has shown, +possess no clear belief of this kind; but arguments derived from the +primeval beliefs of savages are, as we have just seen, of little or no +avail. Few persons feel any anxiety from the impossibility of +determining at what precise period in the development of the individual, +from the first trace of a minute germinal vesicle, man becomes an +immortal being; and there is no greater cause for anxiety because the +period in the gradually ascending organic scale cannot possibly be +determined. + +I am aware that the conclusions arrived at in this work will be +denounced by some as highly irreligious; but he who denounces them is +bound to show why it is more irreligious to explain the origin of man as +a distinct species by descent from some lower form, through the laws of +variation and natural selection, than to explain the birth of the +individual through the laws of ordinary reproduction. The birth both of +the species and of the individual are equally parts of that grand +sequence of events, which our minds refuse to accept as the result of +blind chance. The understanding revolts at such a conclusion, whether or +not we are able to believe that every slight variation of structure, the +union of each pair in marriage, the dissemination of each seed, and +other such events have all been ordained for some special purpose. + +Sexual selection has been treated at great length in this work; for, as +I have attempted to show, it has played an important part in the history +of the organic world. I am aware that much remains doubtful, but I have +endeavoured to give a fair view of the whole case. In the lower +divisions of the animal kingdom sexual selection seems to have done +nothing; such animals are often affixed for life to the same spot, or +have the sexes combined in the same individual, or, what is still more +important, their perceptive and intellectual faculties are not +sufficiently advanced to allow of the feelings of love and jealousy, or +of the exertion of choice. When, however, we come to the Arthropoda and +Vertebrata, even to the lowest classes in these two great sub-kingdoms, +sexual selection has effected much; and it deserves notice that we here +find the intellectual faculties developed, but in two very distinct +lines, to the highest standard, namely in the Hymenoptera [ants, bees, +etc.], among the Arthropoda [many insects, spiders, etc.], and in the +Mammalia, including man, among the Vertebrata. + +In the most distinct classes of the animal kingdom--in mammals, birds, +fishes, insects and even crustaceans--the differences between the sexes +follow almost exactly the same rules. The males are almost always the +wooers; and they alone are armed with special weapons for fighting with +their rivals. They are generally stronger and larger than the females, +and are endowed with the requisite qualities of courage and pugnacity. +They are provided, either exclusively or in a much higher degree than +the females, with organs for vocal or instrumental music, and with +odoriferous glands. They are ornamented with infinitely diversified +appendages and with the most brilliant or conspicuous colors, often +arranged in elegant patterns, while the females are unadorned. When the +sexes differ in more important structures it is the male which is +provided with special sense-organs for discovering the female, with +locomotive organs for reaching her, and often with prehensile organs +for holding her. These various structures for charming or securing the +female are often developed in the male during only part of the year; +namely, the breeding season. They have in many cases been transferred in +a greater or less degree to the females; and in the latter case they +often appear in her as mere rudiments. They are lost or never gained by +the males after emasculation. Generally they are not developed in the +male during early youth, but appear a short time before the age for +reproduction. Hence, in most cases the young of both sexes resemble each +other; and the female somewhat resembles her young offspring throughout +life. In almost every great class a few anomalous cases occur, where +there has been an almost complete transposition of the characters proper +to the two sexes; the females assuming characters which properly belong +to the males. This surprisingly uniformity in the laws regulating the +differences between the sexes in so many and such widely separated +classes is intelligible if we admit the action throughout all the higher +divisions of the animal kingdom of one common cause; namely, sexual +selection. + +Sexual selection depends on the success of certain individuals over +others of the same sex, in relation to the propagation of the species; +while natural selection depends on the success of both sexes, at all +ages, in relation to the general conditions of life. The sexual +struggle is of two kinds; in the one it is between the individuals of +the same sex, generally the males, in order to drive away or kill their +rivals, the females remaining passive; while in the other, the struggle +is likewise between the individuals of the same sex, in order to excite +or charm those of the opposite sex, generally the females, which no +longer remain passive, but select the more agreeable partners. This +latter kind of selection is closely analogous to that which man +unintentionally, yet effectually, brings to bear on his domesticated +productions, when he preserves during a long period the most pleasing or +useful individuals, without any wish to modify the breed. + +The laws of inheritance determine whether characters gained through +sexual selection by either sex shall be transmitted to the same sex, or +to both; as well as the age at which they shall be developed. It appears +that variations arising late in life are commonly transmitted to one and +the same sex. Variability is the necessary basis for the action of +selection and is wholly independent of it. It follows from this that +variations of the same general nature have often been taken advantage of +and accumulated through sexual selection in relation to the propagation +of the species, as well as through natural selection in relation to the +general purposes of life. Hence secondary sexual characters, when +equally transmitted to both sexes, can be distinguished from ordinary +specific characters only by the light of analogy. The modifications +acquired through sexual selection are often so strongly pronounced that +the two sexes have frequently been ranked as distinct species, or even +as distinct genera. Such strongly marked differences must be in some +manner highly important; and we know that they have been acquired in +some instances at the cost not only of inconvenience, but of exposure to +actual danger. + +The belief in the power of sexual selection rests chiefly on the +following considerations: The characters which we have the best reasons +for supposing to have been thus acquired are confined to one sex; and +this alone renders it probable that in most cases they are connected +with the act of reproduction. These characters in innumerable instances +are fully developed only at maturity; and often during only a part of +the year, which is always the breeding season. The males (passing over a +few exceptional cases) are the more active in courtship; they are the +best armed, and are rendered the most attractive in various ways. It is +to be especially observed that the males display their attractions with +elaborate care in the presence of the females; and that they rarely or +never display them excepting during the season of love. It is incredible +that all this should be purposeless. Lastly, we have distinct evidence +with some quadrupeds and birds that the individuals of one sex are +capable of feeling a strong antipathy or preference for certain +individuals of the other sex. + +Bearing in mind these facts and not forgetting the marked results of +man's unconscious selection, it seems to me almost certain that if the +individuals of one sex were during a long series of generations to +prefer pairing with certain individuals of the other sex, characterized +in some peculiar manner, the offspring would slowly but surely become +modified in this same manner. I have not attempted to conceal that, +excepting when the males are more numerous than the females, or when +polygamy prevails, it is doubtful how the more attractive males succeed +in leaving a larger number of offspring to inherit their superiority in +ornaments or other charms than the less attractive males; but I have +shown that this would probably follow from the females--especially the +more vigorous ones, which would be the first to breed--preferring not +only the more attractive but at the same time the more vigorous and +victorious males. + +Although we have some positive evidence that birds appreciate bright and +beautiful objects, as with the bower-birds of Australia, and although +they certainly appreciate the power of song, yet I fully admit that it +is astonishing that the females of many birds and some mammals should be +endowed with sufficient taste to appreciate ornaments, which we have +reason to attribute to sexual selection; and this is even more +astonishing in the case of reptiles, fish and insects. But we really +know little about the minds of the lower animals. It cannot be supposed, +for instance, that male birds of paradise or peacocks should take such +pains in erecting, spreading and vibrating their beautiful plumes before +the males for no purpose. We should remember the fact given on excellent +authority in a former chapter that several peahens, when debarred from +an admired male, remained widows during a whole season rather than pair +with another bird. + +Nevertheless, I know of no fact in natural history more wonderful than +that the female Argus pheasant should appreciate the exquisite shading +of the ball-and-socket ornaments and the elegant patterns on the wing +feathers of the male. He who thinks that the male was created as he now +exists must admit that the great plumes, which prevent the wings from +being used for flight and which, as well as the primary feathers, are +displayed in a manner quite peculiar to this one species during the act +of courtship, and at no other time, were given to him as an ornament. If +so, he must likewise admit that the female was created and endowed with +the capacity of appreciating such ornaments. I differ only in the +conviction that the male Argus pheasant acquired his beauty gradually, +through the females having preferred during many generations the more +highly ornamented males; the esthetic capacity of the females having +been advanced through exercise or habit just as our own taste is +gradually improved. In the male, through the fortunate chance of a few +feathers not having been modified, we can distinctly see how simple +spots with a little fulvous [tawny] shading on one side may have been +developed by small steps into the wonderful ball-and-socket ornaments; +and it is probable that they were actually thus developed. + +Every one who admits the principle of evolution, and yet feels great +difficulty in admitting that female mammals, birds, reptiles and fish, +could have acquired the high taste implied by the beauty of the males, +and which generally coincides with our own standard, should reflect that +the nerve-cells of the brain in the highest as well as in the lowest +members of the Vertebrate series, are derived from those of the common +progenitor of the whole group. It thus becomes intelligible that the +brain and mental faculties should be capable under similar conditions of +nearly the same course of development, and consequently of performing +nearly the same functions. + +The reader who has taken the trouble to go through the several chapters +devoted to sexual selection will be able to judge how far the +conclusions at which I have arrived are supported by sufficient +evidence. If he accepts these conclusions he may, I think, safely extend +them to mankind; but it would be superfluous here to repeat what I have +so lately said on the manner in which sexual selection apparently has +acted on man, both on the male and female side, causing the two sexes of +man to differ in body and mind, and the several races to differ from +each other in various characters, as well as from their ancient and +lowly organized progenitors. + +He who admits the principle of sexual selection will be led to the +remarkable conclusion that the cerebral system not only regulates most +of the existing functions of the body, but has indirectly influenced the +progressive development of various bodily structures and of certain +mental qualities. Courage, pugnacity, perseverance, strength and size of +body, weapons of all kinds, musical organs, both vocal and instrumental, +bright colours, stripes and marks, and ornamental appendages, have all +been indirectly gained by the one sex or the other, through the +influence of love and jealousy, through the appreciation of the +beautiful in sound, colour or form, and through the exertion of a +choice; and those powers of the mind manifestly depend on the +development of the cerebral system. + +Man scans with scrupulous care the character and pedigree of his horses, +cattle and dogs before he matches them; but when he comes to his own +marriage he rarely, or never takes any such care. He is impelled by +nearly the same motives as the lower animals when left to their own free +choice, though he is in so far superior to them that he highly values +mental charms and virtues. On the other hand he is strongly attracted +by mere wealth or rank. Yet he might by selection do something not only +for the bodily constitution and frame of his offspring, but for their +intellectual and moral qualities. Both sexes ought to refrain from +marriage if they are in any marked degree inferior in body or mind; but +such hopes are Utopian and will never be even partially realized until +the laws of inheritance are thoroughly known. All do good service who +aid toward this end. When the principles of breeding and inheritance are +better understood, we shall not hear ignorant members of our legislature +rejecting with scorn a plan for ascertaining whether or not +consanguineous marriages are injurious to man. + +The advancement of the welfare of mankind is a most intricate problem; +all ought to refrain from marriage who cannot avoid abject poverty for +their children; for poverty is not only a great evil, but tends to its +own increase by leading to recklessness in marriage. On the other hand, +as Mr. Galton has remarked, if the prudent avoid marriage, while the +reckless marry, the inferior members tend to supplant the better members +of society. Man, like every other animal, has no doubt advanced to his +present high condition through a struggle for existence consequent on +his rapid multiplication; and if he is to advance still higher, he must +remain subject to a severe struggle. Otherwise he would sink into +indolence, and the more gifted men would not be more successful in the +battle of life than the less gifted. Hence our natural rate of +increase, though leading to many and obvious evils, must not be greatly +diminished by any means. There should be open competition for all men; +and the most able should not be prevented by laws or customs from +succeeding best and rearing the largest number of offspring. Important +as the struggle for existence has been and even still is, yet as far as +the highest part of man's nature is concerned there are other agencies +more important. For the moral qualities are advanced, either directly or +indirectly, much more through the effects of habit, the reasoning +powers, instruction, religion, etc., than through natural selection; +though to this latter agency the social instincts, which afforded the +basis for the development of the moral sense, may be safely attributed. + +The main conclusion arrived at in this work, namely, that man is +descended from some lowly organized form, will, I regret to think, be +highly distasteful to many. But there can hardly be a doubt that we are +descended from barbarians. The astonishment I felt on first seeing a +party of Fuegians on a wild and broken shore will never be forgotten by +me, for the reflection at once rushed into my mind--such were our +ancestors. These men were absolutely naked and bedaubed with paint, +their long hair was tangled, their mouths frothed with excitement, and +their expression was wild, startled and distrustful. They possessed +hardly any arts, and like wild animals lived on what they could catch; +they had no government, and were merciless to every one not of their +own small tribe. He who has seen a savage in his native land will not +feel much shame, if forced to acknowledge that the blood of some more +humble creature flows in his veins. For my own part I would as soon be +descended from that heroic little monkey who braved his dreaded enemy in +order to save the life of his keeper; or from that old baboon, who, +descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph his young comrade +from a crowd of astonished dogs--as from a savage who delights to +torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, practises infanticide +without remorse, treats his wives like slaves, knows no decency, and is +haunted by the grossest superstitions. + +Man may be excused for feeling some pride at having risen, though not +through his own exertions, to the very summit of the organic scale; and +the fact of his having thus risen, instead of having been aboriginally +placed there, may give him hope for a still higher destiny in the +distant future. But we are not here concerned with hopes or fears, only +with the truth as far as our reason permits us to discover it. I have +given the evidence to the best of my ability, and we must acknowledge, +as it seems to me, that man, with all his noble qualities, with sympathy +which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not +only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his godlike +intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of +the solar system--with all these exalted powers--Man still bears in his +bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin. + + + + +MIMICRY AND OTHER PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES AMONG ANIMALS + +ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE + + [Mr. Wallace, one of the greatest naturalists of the age, + discovered the law of natural selection independently of + Darwin, and about the same time. Among his works are "The + Malay Archipelago," "Island Life," and "Darwinism." From + "Natural Selection," which was published by Macmillan & Co., + 1871, the following extracts are taken. The theme has + received important development at the hands of Professor E. + B. Poulton, in his "The Colours of Animals," International + Scientific Series, 1890: and in F. E. Beddard's "Animal + Colouration"; London, Swan Sonnenschein; N. Y., Macmillan, + 1892.] + + +There is no more convincing proof of the truth of a comprehensive +theory, than its power of absorbing and finding a place for new facts, +and its capability of interpreting phenomena which had been previously +looked upon as unaccountable anomalies. It is thus that the law of +universal gravitation and the undulatory theory of light have become +established and universally accepted by men of science. Fact after fact +has been brought forward as being apparently inconsistent with them, and +one after another these very facts have been shown to be the +consequences of the laws they were at first supposed to disprove. A +false theory will never stand this test. Advancing knowledge brings to +light whole groups of facts which it cannot deal with, and its advocates +steadily decrease in numbers, notwithstanding the ability and +scientific skill with which it has been supported. The course of a true +theory is very different, as may be well seen by the progress of opinion +on the subject of natural selection. In less than eight years "The +Origin of Species" has produced conviction in the minds of a majority of +the most eminent living men of science. New facts, new problems, new +difficulties as they arise are accepted, solved or removed by this +theory; and its principles are illustrated by the progress and +conclusions of every well established branch of human knowledge. It is +the object of the present essay to show how it has recently been applied +to connect together and explain a variety of curious facts which had +long been considered as inexplicable anomalies. + +Perhaps no principle has ever been announced so fertile in results as +that which Mr. Darwin so earnestly impresses upon us, and which is +indeed a necessary deduction from the theory of natural selection, +namely--that none of the definite facts of organic nature, no special +organ, no characteristic form or marking, no peculiarities of instinct +or of habit, no relations between species or between groups of +species--can exist, but which must now be or once have been _useful_ to +the individuals or races which possess them. This great principle gives +us a clue which we can follow out in the study of many recondite +phenomena, and leads us to seek a meaning and a purpose of some definite +character in minutiae which we should be otherwise almost sure to pass +over as insignificant or unimportant. + +The adaptation of the external colouring of animals to their conditions +of life has long been recognized, and has been imputed either to an +originally created specific peculiarity, or to the direct action of +climate, soil, or food. Where the former explanation has been accepted, +it has completely checked inquiry, since we could never get any further +than the fact of the adaptation. There was nothing more to be known +about the matter. The second explanation was soon found to be quite +inadequate to deal with all the varied phases of the phenomena, and to +be contradicted by many well-known facts. For example, wild rabbits are +always of gray or brown tints well suited for concealment among grass +and fern. But when these rabbits are domesticated, without any change of +climate or food, they vary into white or black, and these varieties may +be multiplied to any extent, forming white or black races. Exactly the +same thing has occurred with pigeons; and in the case of rats and mice, +the white variety has not been shown to be at all dependent on +alteration of climate, food or other external conditions. In many cases +the wings of an insect not only assume the exact tint of the bark or +leaf it is accustomed to rest on, but the form and veining of the leaf +or the exact rugosity of the bark is imitated; and these detailed +modifications cannot be reasonably imputed to climate or food, since in +many cases the species does not feed on the substance it resembles, and +when it does, no reasonable connection can be shown to exist between the +supposed cause and the effect produced. It was reserved for the theory +of natural selection to solve all these problems, and many others which +were not at first supposed to be directly connected with them. To make +these latter intelligible, it will be necessary to give a sketch of the +whole series of phenomena which may be classed under the head of useful +or protective resemblances. + +Concealment, more or less complete, is useful to many animals, and +absolutely essential to some. Those which have numerous enemies from +which they cannot escape by rapidity of motion, find safety in +concealment. Those which prey upon others must also be so constituted as +not to alarm them by their presence or their approach, or they would +soon die of hunger. Now, it is remarkable in how many cases nature gives +this boon to the animal, by colouring it with such tints as may best +serve to enable it to escape from its enemies or to entrap its prey. +Desert animals as a rule are desert-coloured. The lion is a typical +example of this, and must be almost invisible when crouched upon the +sand or among desert rocks and stones. Antelopes are all more or less +sandy-coloured. The camel is pre-eminently so. The Egyptian cat and the +Pampas cat are sandy or earth-coloured. The Australian kangaroos are of +the same tints, and the original colour of the wild horse is supposed +to have been a sandy or clay-colour. + +The desert birds are still more remarkably protected by their +assimilative hues. The stone-chats, the larks, the quails, the +goatsuckers and the grouse, which abound in the North African and +Asiatic deserts, are all tinted and mottled so as to resemble with +wonderful accuracy the average colour and aspect of the soil in the +district they inhabit. The Rev. H. Tristram, in his account of the +ornithology of North Africa in the first volume of the "Ibis," says: "In +the desert, where neither trees, brushwood, nor even undulation of the +surface afford the slightest protection to its foes, a modification of +colour which shall be assimilated to that of the surrounding country is +absolutely necessary. Hence _without exception_ the upper plumage of +_every bird_, whether lark, chat, sylvain, or sand-grouse, and also the +fur of _all the smaller mammals_, and the skin of _all the snakes and +lizards_, is of one uniform isabelline or sand colour." After the +testimony of so able an observer it is unnecessary to adduce further +examples of the protective colours of desert animals. + +Almost equally striking are the cases of arctic animals possessing the +white colour that best conceals them upon snowfields and icebergs. The +polar bear is the only bear that is white, and it lives constantly among +snow and ice. The arctic fox, the ermine and the alpine hare change to +white in winter only, because in summer white would be more conspicuous +than any other colour, and therefore a danger rather than a protection; +but the American polar hare, inhabiting regions of almost perpetual +snow, is white all the year round. Other animals inhabiting the same +northern regions do not, however, change colour. The sable is a good +example, for throughout the severity of a Siberian winter it retains its +rich brown fur. But its habits are such that it does not need the +protection of colour, for it is said to be able to subsist on fruits and +berries in winter, and to be so active upon the trees as to catch small +birds among the branches. So also the woodchuck of Canada has a +dark-brown fur; but then it lives in burrows and frequents river banks, +catching fish and small animals that live in or near the water. + +Among birds, the ptarmigan is a fine example of protective colouring. +Its summer plumage so exactly harmonizes with the lichen-coloured stones +among which it delights to sit, that a person may walk through a flock +of them without seeing a single bird; while in winter its white plumage +is an almost equal protection. The snow-bunting, the jerfalcon, and the +snowy owl are also white-coloured birds inhabiting the arctic regions, +and there can be little doubt but that their colouring is to some extent +protective. + +Nocturnal animals supply us with equally good illustrations. Mice, rats, +bats, and moles possess the least conspicuous of hues, and must be quite +invisible at times when any light colour would be instantly seen. Owls +and goatsuckers are of those dark mottled tints that will assimilate +with bark and lichen, and thus protect them during the day, and at the +same time be inconspicuous in the dusk. + +It is only in the tropics, among forests which never lose their foliage, +that we find whole groups of birds whose chief colour is green. The +parrots are the most striking example, but we have also a group of green +pigeons in the East; and the barbets, leaf-thrushes, bee-eaters, +white-eyes, turacos, and several smaller groups, have so much green in +their plumage as to tend greatly to conceal them among the foliage. + +The conformity of tint which has been so far shown to exist between +animals and their habitations is of somewhat general character; we will +now consider the cases of more special adaptation. If the lion is +enabled by his sandy colour readily to conceal himself by merely +crouching down in the desert, how, it may be asked, do the elegant +markings of the tiger, the jaguar, and the other large cats agree with +this theory? We reply that these are generally cases of more or less +special adaptation. The tiger is a jungle animal, and hides himself +among tufts of grass or of bamboos, and in these positions the vertical +stripes with which his body is adorned must so assimilate with the +vertical stems of the bamboo, as to assist greatly in concealing him +from his approaching prey. How remarkable it is that besides the lion +and tiger, almost all the other large cats are arboreal in their +habits, and almost all have ocellated or spotted skins, which must +certainly tend to blend them with the background of foliage; while the +one exception, the puma, has an ashy-brown uniform fur, and has the +habit of clinging so closely to a limb of a tree while waiting for his +prey to pass beneath as to be hardly distinguishable from the bark. + +Among birds, the ptarmigan, already mentioned, must be considered a +remarkable case of special adaptation. Another is a South American +goatsucker (Caprimulgus rupestris) which rests in the bright sunshine on +little bare rocky islets in the upper Rio Negro, where its unusually +light colours so closely resemble those of the rock and sand, that it +can scarcely be detected until trodden upon. + +The Duke of Argyll, in his "Reign of Law," has pointed out the admirable +adaptation of the colours of the woodcock to its protection. The various +browns and yellows and pale ash-colour that occur on fallen leaves are +all reproduced in its plumage, so that when according to its habit it +rests upon the ground under trees, it is almost impossible to detect it. +In snipes the colours are modified so as to be equally in harmony with +the prevalent forms and colours of marshy vegetation. Mr. J. M. Lester, +in a paper read before the Rugby School Natural History Society +observes:--"The wood-dove, when perched amongst the branches of its +favourite _fir_, is scarcely discernible; whereas, were it among some +lighter foliage the blue and purple tints in its plumage would far +sooner betray it. The robin redbreast, too, although it might be thought +that the red on its breast made it much easier to be seen, is in reality +not at all endangered by it, since it generally contrives to get among +some russet or yellow fading leaves, where the red matches very well +with the autumn tints, and the brown of the rest of the body with the +bare branches." + +Reptiles offer us many similar examples. The most arboreal lizards, the +iguanas, are as green as the leaves they feed upon, and the slender +whip-snakes are rendered almost invisible as they glide among the +foliage by a similar colouration. How difficult it is sometimes to catch +sight of the little green tree-frogs sitting on the leaves of a small +plant enclosed in a glass case in the Zoological Gardens; yet how much +better concealed they must be among the fresh green damp foliage of a +marshy forest. There is a North American frog found on lichen-covered +rocks and walls, which is so coloured as exactly to resemble them, and +as long as it remains quiet would certainly escape detection. Some of +the geckos which cling motionless on the trunks of trees in the tropics, +are of such curiously marbled colours as to match exactly with the bark +they rest upon. + +In every part of the tropics there are tree snakes that twist among +boughs and shrubs, or lie coiled up in the dense masses of foliage. +These are of many distinct groups, and comprise both venomous and +harmless genera; but almost all of them are of a beautiful green colour, +sometimes more or less adorned with white or dusky bands and spots. +There can be little doubt that this colour is doubly useful to them, +since it will tend to conceal them from their enemies, and will lead +their prey to approach them unconscious of danger. Dr. Gunthner informs +me that there is only one genus of true arboreal snakes (Dipsas) whose +colours are rarely green, but are of various shades of black, brown, and +olive, and these are all nocturnal reptiles, and there can be little +doubt conceal themselves during the day in holes, so that the green +protective tint would be useless to them, and they accordingly retain +the more usual reptilian hues. + +Fishes present similar instances. Many flat fish, as, for example, the +flounder and the skate, are exactly the colour of the gravel or sand on +which they habitually rest. Among the marine flower gardens of an +Eastern coral reef the fishes present every variety of gorgeous colour, +while the river fish even of the tropics rarely if ever have gay or +conspicuous markings. A very curious case of this kind of adaptation +occurs in the sea-horse (Hippocampus) of Australia, some of which bear +long foliaceous appendages resembling seaweed, and are of a brilliant +red colour; and they are known to live among seaweed of the same hue, so +that when at rest they must be quite invisible. There are now in the +aquarium of the Zoological Society some slender green pipe-fish which +fasten themselves to any object at the bottom by their prehensile tails, +and float about with the current, looking exactly like some cylindrical +algae. + +It is, however, in the insect world that this principle of the +adaptation of animals to their environment is most fully and strikingly +developed. In order to understand how general this is, it is necessary +to enter somewhat into details, as we shall thereby be better able to +appreciate the significance of the still more remarkable phenomena we +shall presently have to discuss. It seems to be in proportion to their +sluggish motions or the absence of other means of defence, that insects +possess the protective colouring. In the tropics there are thousands of +species of insects which rest during the day clinging to the bark of +dead or fallen trees; and the greater portion of these are delicately +mottled with gray and brown tints, which though symmetrically disposed +and infinitely varied, yet blend so completely with the usual colours of +the bark that at two or three feet distance they are quite +undistinguishable. In some cases a species is known to frequent only one +species of tree. This is the case with the common South American +long-horned beetle (Onychocerus scorpio) which, Mr. Bates informed me, +is found only on a rough-barked tree, called Tapiriba, on the Amazon. It +is very abundant, but so exactly does it resemble the bark in colour and +rugosity, and so closely does it cling to the branches, that until it +moves it is absolutely invisible! An allied species (O. concentricus) is +found only at Para, on a distinct species of tree, the bark of which it +resembles with equal accuracy. Both these insects are abundant, and we +may fairly conclude that the protection they derive from this strange +concealment is at least one of the causes that enable the race to +flourish. + +Many of the species of Cicindela, or tiger beetle, will illustrate this +mode of protection. Our common Cicindela campestris frequents grassy +banks and is of a beautiful green colour, while C. maritima, which is +found only on sandy sea-shores, is of a pale bronzy yellow, so as to be +almost invisible. A great number of the species found by myself in the +Malay islands are similarly protected. The beautiful Cicindela gloriosa, +of a very deep velvety green colour, was only taken upon wet mossy +stones in the bed of a mountain stream, where it was with the greatest +difficulty detected. A large brown species (C. heros) was found chiefly +on dead leaves in forest paths; and one which was never seen except on +the wet mud of salt marshes was of a glossy olive so exactly the colour +of the mud as only to be distinguished when the sun shone, by its +shadow! Where the sandy beach was coralline and nearly white, I found a +very pale Cicindela; wherever it was volcanic and black, a dark species +of the same genus was sure to be met with. + +There are in the East small beetles of the family Buprestidae which +generally rest on the midrib of a leaf, and the naturalist often +hesitates before picking them off, so closely do they resemble pieces of +bird's dung. Kirby and Spence mention the small beetle Onthophilus +sulcatus as being like the seed of an umbelliferous plant; and another +small weevil, which is much persecuted by predatory beetles of the genus +Harpalus, is of the exact colour of loamy soil, and was found to be +particularly abundant in loam pits. Mr. Bates mentions a small beetle +(Chlamys pilula) which was undistinguishable by the eye from the dung of +caterpillars, while some of the Cassidae, from their hemispherical forms +and pearly gold-colour, resemble glittering dew-drops upon the leaves. + +A number of our small brown and speckled weevils at the approach of any +object roll off the leaf they are sitting on, at the same time drawing +in their legs and antennae, which fit so perfectly into cavities for +their reception that the insect becomes a mere oval brownish lump, which +it is hopeless to look for among the similarly coloured little stones +and earth pellets among which it lies motionless. + +The distribution of colour in butterflies and moths respectively is very +instructive from this point of view. The former have all their brilliant +colouring on the upper surface of all four wings, while the under +surface is almost always soberly coloured, and often very dark and +obscure. The moths on the contrary have generally their chief colour on +the hind wings only, the upper wings being of dull, sombre, and often +imitative tints, and these generally conceal the hind wings when the +insects are in repose. This arrangement of the colours is therefore +eminently protective, because the butterfly always rests with his wings +raised so as to conceal the dangerous brilliancy of his upper surface. +It is probable that if we watched their habits sufficiently we should +find the under surface of the wings of butterflies very frequently +imitative and protective. Mr. T. W. Wood has pointed out that the little +orange-tip butterfly often rests in the evening on the green and white +flower heads of an umbelliferous plant, and that when observed in this +position the beautiful green and white mottling of the under surface +completely assimilates with the flower heads and renders the creature +very difficult to be seen. It is probable that the rich dark colouring +of the under side of our peacock, tortoiseshell, and red-admiral +butterflies answers a similar purpose. + +Two curious South American butterflies that always settle on the trunks +of trees (Gynecia dirce and Callizona acesta) have the under surface +curiously striped and mottled, and when viewed obliquely must closely +assimilate with the appearance of the furrowed bark of many kinds of +trees. But the most wonderful and undoubted case of protective +resemblance in a butterfly which I have ever seen, is that of the +common Indian Kallima inachis, and its Malayan ally, Kallima paralekta. +The upper surface of these insects is very striking and showy, as they +are of a large size, and are adorned with a broad band of rich orange on +a deep bluish ground. The under side is very variable in colour, so that +out of fifty specimens no two can be found exactly alike, but every one +of them will be of some shade of ash or brown or ochre, such as are +found among dead, dry or decaying leaves. The apex of the upper wings is +produced into an acute point, a very common form in the leaves of +tropical shrubs and trees, and the lower wings are also produced into a +short, narrow tail. Between these two points runs a dark curved line +exactly representing the midrib of a leaf, and from this radiate on each +side a few oblique lines, which serve to indicate the lateral veins of a +leaf. These marks are more clearly seen on the outer portion of the base +of the wings, and on the inner side towards the middle and apex, and it +is very curious to observe how the usual marginal and transverse striae +of the group are here modified and strengthened so as to become adapted +for an imitation of the venation of a leaf. We come now to a still more +extraordinary part of the imitation, for we find representations of +leaves in every stage of decay, variously blotched and mildewed and +pierced with powdery black dots gathered into patches and spots, so +closely resembling the various kinds of minute fungi that grow on dead +leaves that is it impossible to avoid thinking at first sight that the +butterflies themselves have been attacked by real fungi. + +But this resemblance, close as it is, would be little use if the habits +of the insect did not accord with it. If the butterfly sat upon leaves +or upon flowers, or opened its wings so as to expose the upper surface, +or exposed and moved its head and antennae as many other butterflies do, +its disguise would be of little avail. We might be sure, however, from +the analogy of many other cases, that the habits of the insect are such +as still further to aid its deceptive garb; but we are not obliged to +make any such supposition, since I myself had the good fortune to +observe scores of Kallima paralekta, in Sumatra, and to capture many of +them, and can vouch for the accuracy of the following details: These +butterflies frequent dry forests and fly very swiftly. They were never +seen to settle on a flower or a green leaf, but were many times lost +sight of in a bush or tree of dead leaves. On such occasions they were +generally searched for in vain, for while gazing intently at the very +spot where one had disappeared, it would often suddenly dart out and +again vanish twenty or fifty yards further on. On one or two occasions +the insect was detected reposing, and it could then be seen how +completely it assimilates itself to the surrounding leaves. It sits on +a nearly upright twig, the wings fitting closely back to back, +concealing the antennae and head, which are drawn up between their bases. +The little tails of the hind wings touch the branch and form a perfect +stalk to the leaf, which is supported in its place by the claws of the +middle pair of feet, which are slender and inconspicuous. The irregular +outline of the wings gives exactly the perspective effect of a +shrivelled leaf. We thus have size, colour, form, markings, and habits, +all combining together to produce a disguise which may be said to be +absolutely perfect; and the protection which it affords is sufficiently +indicated by the abundance of the individuals that possess it.... + +We will now endeavour to show how these wonderful resemblances have most +probably been brought about. Returning to the higher animals, let us +consider the remarkable fact of the rarity of white colouring in the +mammalia or birds of the temperate or tropical zones in a state of +nature. There is not a single white land-bird or quadruped in Europe, +except the few arctic or alpine species to which white is a protective +colour. Yet in many of these creatures there seems to be no inherent +tendency to avoid white, for directly they are domesticated white +varieties arise, and appear to thrive as well as others. We have white +mice and rats, white cats, horses, dogs, and cattle, white poultry, +pigeons, turkeys, and ducks, and white rabbits. Some of these animals +have been domesticated for a long period, others only for a few +centuries; but in almost every case in which an animal has been +thoroughly domesticated, parti-coloured and white varieties are produced +and become permanent. + +It is also well known that animals in a state of nature produce white +varieties occasionally. Blackbirds, starlings, and crows are +occasionally seen white, as well as elephants, deer, tigers, hares, +moles, and many other animals; but in no case is a permanent white race +produced. Now there are no statistics to show that the normal-coloured +parents produce white offspring oftener under domestication than in a +state of nature, and we have no right to make such an assumption if the +facts can be accounted for without it. But if the colours of animals do +really, in the various instances already adduced, serve for their +concealment and preservation, then white or any other conspicuous colour +must be hurtful, and must in most cases shorten an animal's life. A +white rabbit would be more surely the prey of hawk or buzzard, and the +white mole, or field mouse, could not long escape from the vigilant owl. +So, also, any deviation from those tints best adapted to conceal a +carnivorous animal would render the pursuit of its prey much more +difficult, would place it at a disadvantage among its fellows and in a +time of scarcity would probably cause it to starve to death. On the +other hand, if an animal spreads from a temperate into an arctic +district, the conditions are changed. During a large portion of the +year, and just when the struggle for existence is most severe, white is +the prevailing tint of nature, and dark colours will be the most +conspicuous. The white varieties will now have an advantage; they will +escape from their enemies or will secure food, while their brown +companions will be devoured or will starve; and "as like produces like" +is the established rule in nature, the white race will become +permanently established, and dark varieties, when they occasionally +appear, will soon die out from their want of adaptation to their +environment. In each case the fittest will survive, and a race will be +eventually produced adapted to the conditions in which it lives. + +We have here an illustration of the simple and effectual means by which +animals are brought into harmony with the rest of nature. That slight +amount of variability in every species, which we often look upon as +something accidental or abnormal, or so insignificant as to be hardly +worthy of notice, is yet the foundation of all those wonderful and +harmonious resemblances which play such an important part in the economy +of nature. Variation is generally very small in amount, but it is all +that is required, because the change in the external conditions to which +an animal is subject is generally very slow and intermittent. When +these changes have taken place too rapidly, the result has often been +the extinction of species; but the general rule is, that climatal and +geological changes go on slowly, and the slight but continual variations +in the colour, form and structure of all animals, has furnished +individuals adapted to these changes, and who have become the +progenitors of modified races. Rapid multiplication, incessant slight +variation, and survival of the fittest--these are the laws which ever +keep the organic world in harmony with the inorganic and with itself. +These are the laws which we believe have produced all the cases of +protective resemblance already adduced, as well as those still more +curious examples we have yet to bring before our readers. + +It must always be borne in mind that the more wonderful examples, in +which there is not only a general but a special resemblance as in the +walking leaf, the mossy phasma, and the leaf-winged butterfly--represent +those few instances in which the process of modification has been going +on during an immense series of generations. They all occur in the +tropics, where the conditions of existence are the most favourable, and +where climatic changes have for long periods been hardly perceptible. In +most of them favourable variations both of colour, form, structure, and +instinct or habit, must have occurred to produce the perfect adaptation +we now behold. All these are known to vary, and favourable variations +when not accompanied by others that are unfavourable, would certainly +survive. At one time a little step might be made in this direction, at +another time in that--a change of conditions might sometimes render +useless that which it had taken ages to produce--great and sudden +physical modifications might often produce the extinction of a race just +as it was approaching perfection, and a hundred checks of which we can +know nothing may have retarded the progress towards perfect adaptation; +so that we can hardly wonder at there being so few cases in which a +completely successful result has been attained as shown by the abundance +and wide diffusion of the creatures so protected. + +[Here are given many detailed examples of insects which gainfully mimic +one another.] + +We will now adduce a few cases in which beetles imitate other insects, +and insects of other orders imitate beetles. + +Charis melipona, a South American Longicorn of the family Necydalidae, +has been so named from its resemblance to a small bee of the genus +Melipona. It is one of the most remarkable cases of mimicry, since the +beetle has the thorax and body densely hairy like the bee, and the legs +are tufted in a manner most unusual in the order Coleoptera. Another +Longicorn, Odontocera odyneroides, has the abdomen banded with yellow, +and constricted at the base, and is altogether so exactly like a small +common wasp of the genus Odynerus, that Mr. Bates informs us he was +afraid to take it out of his net with his fingers for fear of being +stung. Had Mr. Bates's taste for insects been less omnivorous than it +was, the beetle's disguise might have saved it from his pin, as it had +no doubt often done from the beak of hungry birds. A larger insect, +Sphecomorpha chalybea, is exactly like one of the large metallic blue +wasps, and like them has the abdomen connected with the thorax by a +pedicle, rendering the deception most complete and striking. Many +Eastern species of Longicorns of the genus Oberea, when on the wing +exactly resemble Tenthredinidae, and many of the small species of +Hesthesis run about on timber, and cannot be distinguished from ants. +There is one genus of South American Longicorns that appears to mimic +the shielded bugs of the genus Scutellera. The Gymnocerous capucinus is +one of these, and is very like Pachyotris fabricii, one of the +Scutelleridae. The beautiful Gymnocerous dulcissimus is also very like +the same group of insects, though there is no known species that exactly +corresponds to it; but this is not to be wondered at, as the tropical +Hemiptera have been comparatively so little cared for by collectors. + +The most remarkable case of an insect of another order mimicking a +beetle is that of the Condylodera tricondyloides, one of the cricket +family from the Philippine Islands, which is so exactly like a +Tricondyla (one of the tiger beetles), that such an experienced +entomologist as Professor Westwood placed it among them in his cabinet, +and retained it there a long time before he discovered his mistake! Both +insects run along the trunks of trees, and whereas Tricondylas are very +plentiful, the insect that mimics it is, as in all other cases, very +rare. Mr. Bates also informs us that he found at Santarem on the Amazon, +a species of locust which mimicked one of the tiger beetles of the genus +Odontocheila, and was found on the same trees which they frequented. + +There are a considerable number of Diptera, or two-winged flies, that +closely resemble wasps and bees, and no doubt derive much benefit from +the wholesome dread which those insects excite. The Midas dives, and +other species of large Brazilian flies, have dark wings and metallic +blue elongate bodies, resembling the large stinging Sphegidae of the same +country; and a very large fly of the genus Asilus has black-banded wings +and the abdomen tipped with rich orange, so as exactly to resemble the +fine bee Euglossa dimidiata, and both are found in the same parts of +South America. We have also in our own country species of Bombylius +which are almost exactly like bees. In these cases the end gained by the +mimicry is no doubt freedom from attack, but it has sometimes an +altogether different purpose. There are a number of parasitic flies +whose larvae feed upon the larvae of bees, such as the British genus +Volucella and many of the tropical Bombylii, and most of these are +exactly like the particular species of bee they prey upon, so that they +can enter their nests unsuspected to deposit their eggs. There are also +bees that mimic bees. The cuckoo bees of the genus Nomada are parasitic +on the Andrenidae, and they resemble either wasps or species of Andrena; +and the parasitic humble-bees of the genus Apathus almost exactly +resemble the species of humble-bees in whose nests they are reared. Mr. +Bates informs us that he found numbers of these "cuckoo" bees and flies +on the Amazon, which all wore the livery of working bees peculiar to the +same country. + +There is a genus of small spiders in the tropics which feed on ants, and +they are exactly like ants themselves, which no doubt gives them more +opportunity of seizing their prey; and Mr. Bates found on the Amazon a +species of Mantis which exactly resembled the white ants which it fed +upon, as well as several species of crickets (Saphura), which resembled +in a wonderful manner different sand-wasps of large size, which are +constantly on the search for crickets with which to provision their +nests. + +Perhaps the most wonderful case of all is the large caterpillar +mentioned by Mr. Bates, which startled him by its close resemblance to a +small snake. The first three segments behind the head were dilatable at +the will of the insect, and had on each side a large black pupillated +spot, which resembled the eye of the reptile. Moreover, it resembled a +poisonous viper, not a harmless species of snake, as was proved by the +imitation of keeled scales on the crown produced by the recumbent feet, +as the caterpillar threw itself backward! + +The attitudes of many of the tropical spiders are most extraordinary and +deceptive, but little attention has been paid to them. They often mimic +other insects, and some, Mr. Bates assures us, are exactly like flower +buds, and take their station in the axils of leaves, where they remain +motionless waiting for their prey. + +I have now completed a brief, and necessarily very imperfect, survey of +the various ways in which the external form and colouring of animals is +adapted to be useful to them, either by concealing them from their +enemies or from the creatures they prey upon. It has, I hope, been shown +that the subject is one of much interest, both as regard a true +comprehension of the place each animal fills in the economy of nature, +and the means by which it is enabled to maintain that place; and also as +teaching us how important a part is played by the minutest details in +the structure of animals, and how complicated and delicate is the +equilibrium of the organic world. + +My exposition of the subject having been necessarily somewhat lengthy +and full of details, it will be as well to recapitulate its main +points. + +There is a general harmony in nature between the colours of an animal +and those of its habitation. Arctic animals are white, desert animals +are sand-coloured; dwellers among leaves and grass are green; nocturnal +animals are dusky. These colours are not universal, but are very +general, and are seldom reversed. Going on a little further, we find +birds, reptiles and insects, so tinted and mottled as exactly to match +the rock, or bark, or leaf, or flower they are accustomed to rest +upon--and thereby effectually concealed. Another step in advance, and we +have insects which are formed as well as coloured so as exactly to +resemble particular leaves, or sticks, or mossy twigs, or flowers; and +in these cases very peculiar habits and instincts come into play to aid +in the deception and render the concealment more complete. We now enter +upon a new phase of the phenomena, and come to creatures whose colours +neither conceal them nor make them like vegetable or mineral substances; +on the contrary, they are conspicuous enough, but they completely +resemble some other creature of a quite different group, while they +differ much in outward appearance from those with which all essential +parts of their organization show them to be really closely allied. They +appear like actors or masqueraders dressed up and painted for amusement, +or like swindlers endeavouring to pass themselves off for well-known and +respectable members of society. What is the meaning of this strange +travesty? Does nature descend to imposture or masquerade? We answer, she +does not. Her principles are too severe. There is a use in every detail +of her handiwork. The resemblance of one animal to another is of exactly +the same essential nature as the resemblance to a leaf, or to bark, or +to desert sand, and answers exactly the same purpose. In the one case +the enemy will not attack the leaf or the bark, and so the disguise is a +safeguard; in the other case it is found that for various reasons the +creature resembled is passed over, and not attacked by the usual enemies +of its order, and thus the creature that resembles it has an equally +effectual safeguard. We are plainly shown that the disguise is of the +same nature in the two cases, by the occurrence in the same group of one +species resembling a vegetable substance, while another resembles a +living animal of another group; and we know that the creatures resembled +possess an immunity from attack, by their being always very abundant, by +their being conspicuous and not concealing themselves, and by their +having generally no visible means of escape from their enemies; while, +at the same time, the particular quality that makes them disliked is +often very clear, such as a nasty taste or an indigestible hardness. +Further examination reveals the fact that, in several cases of both +kinds of disguise, it is the female only that is thus disguised; and as +it can be shown that the female needs protection much more than the +male, and that her preservation for a much longer period is absolutely +necessary for the continuance of the race, we have an additional +indication that the resemblance is in all cases subservient to a great +purpose--the preservation of the species. + +In endeavouring to explain these phenomena as having been brought about +by variation and natural selection, we start with the fact that white +varieties frequently occur, and when protected from enemies show no +incapacity for continued existence and increase. We know, further, that +varieties of many other tints occasionally occur; and as "the survival +of the fittest" must inevitably weed out those whose colours are +prejudicial and preserve those whose colours are a safeguard, we require +no other mode of accounting for the protective tints of arctic and +desert animals. But this being granted, there is such a perfectly +continuous and graduated series of examples of every kind of protective +imitation, up to the most wonderful cases of what is termed "mimicry," +that we can find no place at which to draw the line and say,--so far +variation and natural selection will account for the phenomena, but for +all the rest we require a more potent cause. The counter theories that +have been proposed, that of the "special creation" of each imitative +form, that of the action of similar "conditions of existence" for some +of the cases, and of the laws of "hereditary descent and the reversion +to ancestral forms" for others,--have all been shown to be beset with +difficulties, and the two latter to be directly contradicted by some of +the most constant and most remarkable of the facts to be accounted for. + +The important part that protective "resemblance" has played in +determining the colours and markings of many groups of animals will +enable us to understand the meaning of one of the most striking facts in +nature, the uniformity in the colours of the vegetable as compared with +the wonderful diversity of the animal world. There appears no good +reason why trees and shrubs should not have been adorned with as many +varied hues and as strikingly designed patterns as birds and +butterflies, since the gay colours of flowers show that there is no +incapacity in vegetable tissues to exhibit them. But even flowers +themselves present us with none of those wonderful designs, those +complicated arrangements of stripes and dots and patches of colour, that +harmonious blending of hues in lines and bands and shaded spots, which +are so general a feature in insects. It is the opinion of Mr. Darwin +that we owe much of the beauty of flowers to the necessity of attracting +insects to aid in their fertilization, and that much of the development +of colour in the animal world is due to "sexual selection," colour being +universally attractive, and thus leading to its propagation and +increase; but while fully admitting this, it will be evident from the +facts and arguments here brought forward, that very much of the +_variety_ both of colour and markings among animals is due to the +supreme importance of concealment, and thus the various tints of +minerals and vegetables have been directly reproduced in the animal +kingdom, and again and again modified as more special protection became +necessary. We shall thus have two causes for the development of colour +in the animal world and shall be better enabled to understand how, by +their combined and separate action, the immense variety we now behold +has been produced. Both causes, however, will come under the general law +of "Utility," the advocacy of which, in its broadest sense, we owe +almost entirely to Mr. Darwin. A more accurate knowledge of the varied +phenomena connected with this subject may not improbably give us some +information both as to the senses and the mental faculties of the lower +animals. For it is evident that if colours which please us also attract +them, and if the various disguises which have been here enumerated are +equally deceptive to them as to ourselves, then both their powers of +vision and their faculties of perception and emotion, must be +essentially of the same nature as our own--a fact of high philosophical +importance in the study of our own nature and our true relations to the +lower animals.[4] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] The author continues this study in Chapter ix of "Darwinism": New +York, Macmillan Co., 1889.--Ed. + + + + +THE EVOLUTION OF THE HORSE + +THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY + + [Professor Huxley as a naturalist, educator, and + controversialist was one of the commanding figures of the + nineteenth century. To physiology and morphology his + researches added much of importance: as an expositor he stood + unapproached. As the bold and witty champion of Darwinism he + gave natural selection an acceptance much more early and wide + than it would otherwise have enjoyed. In 1876 he delivered in + America three lectures on Evolution: the third of the series + is here given. All three are copyrighted and published by D. + Appleton & Co., New York, in a volume which also contains a + lecture on the study of biology. Since 1876 the arguments of + Professor Huxley have been reinforced by the discovery of + many fossils connecting not only the horse, but other + quadrupeds, with species widely different and now extinct. + The most comprehensive collection illustrating the descent of + the horse is to be seen at the American Museum of Natural + History, New York, where also the evolution of tapirs, + camels, llamas, rhinoceroses, dinosaurs, great ground sloths + and other animals are clearly to be traced--in most cases by + remains discovered in America. A capital book on the theme + broached by Professor Huxley is "Animals of the Past," by + Frederic A. Lucas, Curator of the Division of Comparative + Anatomy, United States National Museum, Washington, D. C., + published by McClure, Phillips & Co., New York. + + "The Life and Letters of Professor Huxley," edited by his + son, Leonard Huxley, is a work of rare interest: it is + published by D. Appleton & Co., New York.] + + +The occurrence of historical facts is said to be demonstrated, when the +evidence that they happened is of such a character as to render the +assumption that they did not happen in the highest degree improbable; +and the question I now have to deal with is, whether evidence in favour +of the evolution of animals of this degree of cogency is, or is not, +obtainable from the record of the succession of living forms which is +presented to us by fossil remains. + +Those who have attended to the progress of palaeontology are aware that +evidence of the character which I have defined has been produced in +considerable and continually-increasing quantity during the last few +years. Indeed, the amount and the satisfactory nature of that evidence +are somewhat surprising, when we consider the conditions under which +alone we can hope to obtain it. + +It is obviously useless to seek for such evidence, except in localities +in which the physical conditions have been such as to permit of the +deposit of an unbroken, or but rarely interrupted, series of strata +through a long period of time; in which the group of animals to be +investigated has existed in such abundance as to furnish the requisite +supply of remains; and in which, finally, the materials composing the +strata are such as to insure the preservation of these remains in a +tolerably perfect and undisturbed state. + +It so happens that the case which, at present, most nearly fulfils all +these conditions is that of the series of extinct animals which +culminates in the horses; by which term I mean to denote not merely the +domestic animals with which we are all so well acquainted, but their +allies, the ass, zebra, quagga, and the like. In short, I use "horses" +as the equivalent of the technical name _Equidae_, which is applied to +the whole group of existing equine animals. + +The horse is in many ways a remarkable animal; not least so in the fact +that it presents us with an example of one of the most perfect pieces of +machinery in the living world. In truth, among the works of human +ingenuity it cannot be said that there is any locomotive so perfectly +adapted to its purposes, doing so much work with so small a quantity of +fuel, as this machine of nature's manufacture--the horse. And, as a +necessary consequence of any sort of perfection, of mechanical +perfection as of others, you find that the horse is a beautiful +creature, one of the most beautiful of all land animals. Look at the +perfect balance of its form, and the rhythm and force of its action. The +locomotive machinery is, as you are aware, resident in its slender fore +and hind limbs; they are flexible and elastic levers, capable of being +moved by very powerful muscles; and, in order to supply the engines +which work these levers with the force which they expend, the horse is +provided with a very perfect apparatus for grinding its food and +extracting therefrom the requisite fuel. + +Without attempting to take you very far into the region of osteological +detail, I must nevertheless trouble you with some statements respecting +the anatomical structure of the horse; and, more especially, will it be +needful to obtain a general conception of the structure of its fore and +hind limbs, and of its teeth. But I shall only touch upon these points +which are absolutely essential to our inquiry. + +Let us turn in the first place to the fore-limb. In most quadrupeds, as +in ourselves, the fore-arms contains distinct bones called the radius +and the ulna. The corresponding region in the horse seem at first to +possess but one bone. Careful observation, however, enables us to +distinguish in this bone a part which clearly answers to the upper end +of the ulna. This is closely united with the chief mass of the bone +which represents the radius, and runs out into a slender shaft which may +be traced for some distance downwards upon the back of the radius, and +then in most cases thins out and vanishes. It takes still more trouble +to make sure of what is nevertheless the fact, that a small part of the +lower end of the bone of the horse's fore-arm, which is only distinct in +a very young foal, is really the lower extremity of the ulna. + +What is commonly called the knee of a horse is its wrist. The "cannon +bone" answers to the middle bone of the five metacarpal bones, which +support the palm of the hand in ourselves. The "pastern," "coronary," +and "coffin" bones of veterinarians answer to the joints of our middle +fingers, while the hoof is simply a greatly enlarged and thickened nail. +But if what lies below the horse's "knee" thus corresponds to the middle +finger in ourselves, what has become of the four other fingers or +digits? We find in the places of the second and fourth digits only two +slender splint-like bones, about two-thirds as long as the cannon bone, +which gradually taper to their lower ends and bear no finger joints, or, +as they are termed, phalanges. Sometimes, small bony or gristly nodules +are to be found at the bases of these two metacarpal splints, and it is +probable that these represent rudiments of the first and fifth toes. +Thus, the part of the horse's skeleton, which corresponds with that of +the human hand, contains one overgrown middle digit, and at least two +imperfect lateral digits; and these answer, respectively, to the third, +the second and the fourth fingers in man. + +Corresponding modifications are found in the hind limb. In ourselves, +and in most quadrupeds, the leg contains two distinct bones, a large +bone, the tibia, and a smaller and more slender bone, the fibula. But, +in the horse, the fibula seems, at first, to be reduced to its upper +end; a short slender bone united with the tibia and ending in a point +below, occupying its place. Examination of the lower end of a young +foal's shin-bone, however, shows a distinct portion of osseous matter, +which is the lower end of the fibula; so that the, apparently single, +lower end of the shin-bone is really made up of the coalesced ends of +the tibia and fibula, just as the, apparently single, lower end of the +fore-arm bone is composed of the coalesced radius and ulna. + +The heel of the horse is the part commonly known as the hock. The hinder +cannon bone answers to the middle metatarsal bone of the human foot, the +pastern, coronary, and coffin bones, to the middle toe bones; the hind +hoof to the nail; as in the fore-foot. And, as in the fore-foot, there +are merely two splints to represent the second and the fourth toes. +Sometimes a rudiment of a fifth toe appears to be traceable. + +The teeth of a horse are not less peculiar than its limbs. The living +engine, like all others, must be well stoked if it is to do its work; +and the horse, if it is to make good its wear and tear, and to exert the +enormous amount of force required for its propulsion, must be well and +rapidly fed. To this end good cutting instruments and powerful and +lasting crushers are needful. Accordingly, the twelve cutting teeth of a +horse are close-set and concentrated in the fore-part of its mouth, like +so many adzes or chisels. The grinders or molars are large, and have an +extremely complicated structure, being composed of a number of different +substances of unequal hardness. The consequence of this is that they +wear away at different rates; and, hence, the surface of each grinder +is always as uneven as that of a good millstone. + +I have said that the structure of the grinding teeth is very +complicated, the harder and the softer parts being, as it were, +interlaced with one another. The result of this is that, as the tooth +wears, the crown presents a peculiar pattern, the nature of which is not +very easily deciphered at first, but which it is important we should +understand clearly. Each grinding tooth of the upper jaw has an _outer +wall_ so shaped that, on the worn crown, it exhibits the form of two +crescents, one in front and one behind, with their concave sides turned +outwards. From the inner side of the front crescent, a crescentic _front +ridge_ passes inwards and backwards, and its inner face enlarges into a +strong longitudinal fold or _pillar_. From the front part of the hinder +crescent, a _back ridge_ takes a like direction, and also has its +_pillar_. + +The deep interspaces or _valleys_ between these ridges and the outer +wall are filled by bony substance, which is called _cement_, and coats +the whole tooth. + +The pattern of the worn face of each grinding tooth of the lower jaw is +quite different. It appears to be formed of two crescent-shaped ridges, +the convexities of which are turned outwards. The free extremity of each +crescent has a _pillar_, and there is a large double _pillar_ where the +two crescents meet. The whole structure is, as it were, imbedded in +cement, which fills up the valleys, as in the upper grinders. + +If the grinding faces of an upper and of a lower molar of the same side +are applied together, it will be seen that the opposed ridges are +nowhere parallel, but that they frequently cross; and that thus, in the +act of mastication, a hard surface in the one is constantly applied to a +soft surface in the other, and _vice versa_. They thus constitute a +grinding apparatus of great efficiency, and one which is repaired as +fast as it wears, owing to the long-continued growth of the teeth. + +Some other peculiarities of the dentition of the horse must be noticed, +as they bear upon what I shall have to say by and by. Thus the crowns of +the cutting teeth have a peculiar deep pit, which gives rise to the +well-known "mark" of the horse. There is a large space between the outer +incisors and the front grinders. In this space the adult male horse +presents, near the incisors on each side, above and below, a canine or +"tush," which is commonly absent in mares. In a young horse, moreover, +there is not unfrequently to be seen, in front of the first grinder, a +very small tooth, which soon falls out. If this small tooth be counted +as one, it will be found that there are seven teeth behind the canine on +each side; namely, the small tooth in question, and the six great +grinders, among which, by an unusual peculiarity, the foremost tooth is +rather larger than those which follow it. + +I have now enumerated those characteristic structures of the horse which +are of most importance for the purpose we have in view. + +To any one who is acquainted with the morphology [comparative forms] of +vertebrated animals, they show that the horse deviates widely from the +general structure of mammals; and that the horse type is, in many +respects, an extreme modification of the general mammalian plan. The +least modified mammals, in fact, have the radius and ulna, the tibia and +fibula, distinct and separate. They have five distinct and complete +digits on each foot, and no one of these digits is very much larger than +the rest. Moreover, in the least modified mammals the total number of +the teeth is very generally forty-four, while in horses the usual number +is forty, and in the absence of the canines it may be reduced to +thirty-six; the incisor teeth are devoid of the fold seen in those of +the horse: the grinders regularly diminish in size from the middle of +the series to its front end; while their crowns are short, early attain +their full length, and exhibit simple ridges or tubercles, in place of +the complex foldings of the horse's grinders. + +Hence the general principles of the hypothesis of evolution lead to the +conclusion that the horse must have been derived from some quadruped +which possessed five complete digits on each foot; which had the bones +of the fore-arm and of the leg complete and separate; and which +possessed forty-four teeth, among which the crowns of the incisors and +grinders had a simple structure; while the latter gradually increased in +size from before backwards, at any rate in the anterior part of the +series, and had short crowns. + +And if the horse has been thus evolved, and the remains of the different +stages of its evolution have been preserved, they ought to present us +with a series of forms in which the number of the digits becomes +reduced; the bones of the fore-arm and leg gradually take on the equine +condition; and the form and arrangement of the teeth successively +approximate to those which obtain in existing horses. + +Let us turn to the facts, and see how far they fulfil these requirements +of the doctrine of evolution. + +In Europe abundant remains of horses are found in the Quaternary and +later Tertiary strata as far as the Pliocene formation. But these +horses, which are so common in the cave-deposits and in the gravels of +Europe, are in all essential respects like existing horses. And that is +true of all the horses of the latter part of the Pliocene epoch. But in +deposits which belong to the earlier Pliocene and later Miocene epochs, +and which occur in Britain, in France, in Germany, in Greece, in India, +we find animals which are extremely like horses--which, in fact, are so +similar to horses that you may follow descriptions given in works upon +the anatomy of the horse upon the skeletons of these animals--but which +differ in some important particulars. For example, the structure of +their fore and hind limbs is somewhat different. The bones which, in the +horse, are represented by two splints, imperfect below, are as long as +the middle metacarpal and metatarsal bones; and attached to the +extremity of each is a digit with three joints of the same general +character as those of the middle digit, only very much smaller. These +small digits are so disposed that they could have had but very little +functional importance, and they must have been rather of the nature of +the dew-claws, such as are to be found in many ruminant animals. The +_Hipparion_, as the extinct European three-toed horse is called, in +fact, presents a foot similar to that of the American _Protohippus_ +(Fig. 9), except that in the _Hipparion_ the smaller digits are situated +farther back and are of smaller proportional size than in the +_Protohippus_. + +The ulna is slightly more distinct than in the horse; and the whole +length of it, as a very slender shaft intimately united with the radius, +is completely traceable. The fibula appears to be in the same condition +as in the horse. The teeth of the _Hipparion_ are essentially similar to +those of the horse, but the pattern of the grinders is in some respects +a little more complex, and there is a depression on the face of the +skull in front of the orbit, which is not seen in existing horses. + +In the earlier Miocene, and perhaps the later Eocene deposits of some +parts of Europe, another extinct animal has been discovered, which +Cuvier, who first described some fragments of it, considered to be a +_Palaeotherium_. But as further discoveries threw new light on its +structure, it was recognized as a distinct genus under the name of +_Anchitherium_. + +In its general characters, the skeleton of _Anchitherium_ is very +similar to that of the horse. In fact, Lartet and De Blainville called +it _Palaeotherium equinum_ or _hippoides_; and De Christol, in 1847, said +that it differed from _Hipparion_ in little more than the characters of +its teeth, and gave it the name of _Hipparitherium_. Each foot possesses +three complete toes; while the lateral toes are much larger in +proportion to the middle toe than in _Hipparion_, and doubtless rested +on the ground in ordinary locomotion. + +The ulna is complete and quite distinct from that radius, though firmly +united with the latter. The fibula seems also to have been complete. Its +lower end, though intimately united with that of the tibia, is clearly +marked off from the latter bone. + +There are forty-four teeth. The incisors have no strong pit. The canines +seem to have been well developed in both sexes. The first of the seven +grinders, which, as I have said, is frequently absent, and when it does +exist, is small in the horse, is a good-sized and permanent tooth, +while the grinder which follows it is but little larger than the hinder +ones. The crowns of the grinders are short, and though the fundamental +pattern of the horse-tooth is discernible, the front and back ridges are +less curved, the accessory pillars, are wanting, and the valleys, much +shallower, are not filled up with cement. + +Seven years ago, when I happened to be looking critically into the +bearing of palaeontological facts upon the doctrine of evolution, it +appeared to me that the _Anchitherium_, the _Hipparion_, and the modern +horses, constitute a series in which the modifications of structure +coincide with the order of chronological occurrence, in the manner in +which they must coincide, if the modern horses really are the result of +the gradual metamorphosis, in the course of the Tertiary epoch, of a +less specialized ancestral form. And I found by correspondence with the +late eminent French anatomist and palaeontologist, M. Lartet, that he had +arrived at the same conclusion from the same data. + +That the _Anchitherium_ type had become metamorphosed into the +_Hipparion_ type, and the latter into the _Equine_ type,[5] in the +course of that period of time which is represented by the latter half +of the Tertiary deposits, seemed to me to be the only explanation of the +facts for which there was even a shadow of probability. + +And, hence, I have ever since held that these facts afford evidence of +the occurrence of evolution, which, in the sense already defined, may be +termed demonstrative. + +All who have occupied themselves with the structure of _Anchitherium_, +from Cuvier onwards, have acknowledged its many points of likeness to a +well-known genus of extinct Eocene mammals, _Palaeotherium_. Indeed, as +we have seen, Cuvier regarded his remains of _Anchitherium_ as those of +a species of _Palaeotherium_. Hence, in attempting to trace the pedigree +of the horse beyond the Miocene epoch and the Anchitheroid form, I +naturally sought among the various species of Palaeotheroid animals for +its nearest ally, and I was led to the conclusion that the _Palaeotherium +minus_ (_Plagiolophus_) represented the next step more nearly than any +form then known. + +I think that this opinion was fully justifiable; but the progress of +investigation has thrown an unexpected light on the question, and has +brought us much nearer than could have been anticipated to a knowledge +of the true series of the progenitors of the horse. + +You are all aware that, when your country was first discovered by +Europeans, there were no traces of the existence of the horse on any +part of the American Continent. The accounts of the conquest of Mexico +dwell upon the astonishment of the natives of that country when they +first became acquainted with that astounding phenomenon--a man seated +upon a horse. Nevertheless, the investigations of American geologists +have proved that the remains of horses occur in the most superficial +deposits of both North and South America, just as they do in Europe. +Therefore, for some reason or other--no feasible suggestion on that +subject, so far as I know, has been made--the horse must have died out +on this continent at some period preceding the discovery of America. Of +late years there has been discovered in your Western Territories that +marvellous accumulation of deposits, admirably adapted for the +preservation of organic remains, to which I referred the other evening, +and which furnishes us with a consecutive series of records of the fauna +of the older half of the Tertiary epoch, for which we have no parallel +in Europe. They have yielded fossils in an excellent state of +conservation and in unexampled numbers and variety. The researches of +Leidy and others have shown that forms allied to the _Hipparion_ and the +_Anchitherium_ are to be found among these remains. But it is only +recently that the admirably conceived and most thoroughly and patiently +worked-out investigations of Professor Marsh have given us a just idea +of the vast fossil wealth, and of the scientific importance, of these +deposits. I have had the advantage of glancing over the collections in +Yale Museum; and I can truly say, that so far as my knowledge extends, +there is no collection from any one region and series of strata +comparable, for extent, or for the care with which the remains have been +got together, or for their scientific importance, to the series of +fossils which he has deposited there. This vast collection has yielded +evidence bearing upon the question of the pedigree of the horse of the +most striking character. It tends to show that we must look to America, +rather than to Europe, for the original seat of the equine series; and +that the archaic forms and successive modifications of the horse's +ancestry are far better preserved here than in Europe. + +Professor Marsh's kindness has enabled me to put before you a diagram, +every figure of which is an actual representation of some specimen which +is to be seen at Yale at this present time (Fig. 9). + +The succession of forms which he has brought together carries us from +the top to the bottom of the Tertiaries. Firstly, there is the true +horse. Next we have the American Pliocene form of the horse +(_Pliohippus_); in the conformation of its limbs it presents some very +slight deviations from the ordinary horse, and the crowns of the +grinding teeth are shorter. Then comes the _Protohippus_, which +represents the European _Hipparion_, having one large digit and two +small ones on each foot, and the general characters of the fore-arm and +leg to which I have referred. But it is more valuable than the European +_Hipparion_ for the reason that it is devoid of some of the +peculiarities of that form--peculiarities which tend to show that the +European _Hipparion_ is rather a member of a collateral branch, than a +form in the direct line of succession. Next, in the backward order in +time, is the _Miohippus_, which corresponds pretty nearly with the +_Anchitherium_ of Europe. It presents three complete toes--one large +median and two smaller lateral ones; and there is a rudiment of that +digit, which answers to the little finger of the human hand. + +The European record of the pedigree of the horse stops here; in the +American Tertiaries, on the contrary, the series of ancestral equine +forms is continued into the Eocene formations. An older Miocene form, +termed _Mesohippus_, has three toes in front, with a large splint-like +rudiment representing the little finger; and three toes behind. The +radius and ulna, the tibia and the fibula, are distinct, and the short +crowned molar teeth are anchitheroid in pattern. + +But the most important discovery of all is the _Orohippus_, which comes +from the Eocene formation, and which is the oldest member of the equine +series, as yet known. Here we find four complete toes on the front-limb, +three toes on the hind-limb, a well-developed ulna, a well-developed +fibula, and short-crowned grinders of simple pattern. + +Thus, thanks to these important researches, it has become evident that, +so far as our present knowledge extends, the history of the horse-type +is exactly and precisely that which could have been predicted from a +knowledge of the principles of evolution. And the knowledge we now +possess justifies us completely in the anticipation, that when the still +lower Eocene deposits, and those which belong to the Cretaceous epoch, +have yielded up their remains of ancestral equine animals, we shall +find, first, a form with four complete toes and a rudiment of the +innermost or first digit in front, with probably, a rudiment of the +fifth digit in the hind foot;[6] while, in still older forms, the series +of the digits will be more and more complete, until we come to the +five-toed animals, in which, if the doctrine of evolution is well +founded, the whole series must have taken its origin. + +That is what I mean by demonstrative evidence of evolution. An inductive +hypothesis is said to be demonstrated when the facts are shown to be in +entire accordance with it. If that is not scientific proof, there are no +merely inductive conclusions which can be said to be proved. And the +doctrine of evolution, at the present time, rests upon exactly as secure +a foundation as the Copernican theory of the motions of the heavenly +bodies did at the time of its promulgation. Its logical basis is +precisely of the same character--the coincidence of the observed facts +with theoretical requirements. + +The only way of escape, if it be a way of escape, from the conclusions +which I have just indicated, is the supposition that all these different +equine forms have been created separately at separate epochs of time; +and, I repeat, that of such an hypothesis as this there neither is, nor +can be, any scientific evidence; and, assuredly, so far as I know, there +is none which is supported, or pretends to be supported, by evidence or +authority of any other kind. I can but think that the time will come +when such suggestions as these, such obvious attempts to escape the +force of demonstration, will be put upon the same footing as the +supposition made by some writers, who are, I believe, not completely +extinct at present, that fossils are mere simulacra [images], are no +indications of the former existence of the animals to which they seem to +belong; but that they are either sports of Nature, or special creations, +intended--as I heard suggested the other day--to test our faith. + +In fact, the whole evidence is in favour of evolution, and there is none +against it. And I say this, although perfectly well aware of the seeming +difficulties which have been built up upon what appears to the +uninformed to be a solid foundation. I meet constantly with the argument +that the doctrine of evolution cannot be well founded because it +requires the lapse of a very vast period of time; while the duration of +life upon the earth, thus implied, is inconsistent with the conclusions +arrived at by the astronomer and the physicist. I may venture to say +that I am familiar with those conclusions, inasmuch as some years ago, +when president of the Geological Society of London, I took the liberty +of criticising them, and of showing in what respects, as it appeared to +me, they lacked complete and thorough demonstration. But, putting that +point aside, suppose that, as the astronomers, or some of them, and some +physical philosophers tell us, it is impossible that life could have +endured upon the earth for so long a period as is required by the +doctrine of evolution--supposing that to be proved--I desire to be +informed, what is the foundation for the statement that evolution does +require so great a time? The biologist knows nothing whatever of the +amount of time which may be required for the process of evolution. It is +a matter of fact that the equine forms, which I have described to you, +occur, in the order stated, in the Tertiary formations. But I have not +the slightest means of guessing whether it took a million of years, or +ten millions, or a hundred millions, or a thousand millions of years, to +give rise to that series of changes. A biologist has no means of +arriving at any conclusions as to the amount of time which may be needed +for a certain quantity of organic change. He takes his time from the +geologist. The geologist, considering the rate at which deposits are +formed and the rate at which denudation goes on upon the surface of the +earth, arrives at more or less justifiable conclusions as to the time +which is required for the deposit of a certain thickness of rocks; and +if he tells me that the Tertiary formations required 500,000,000 years +for their deposit, I suppose he has good ground for what he says, and I +take that as a measure of the duration of the evolution of the horse +from the _Orohippus_ up to its present condition. And, if he is right, +undoubtedly evolution is a very slow process, and requires a great deal +of time. But suppose now, that an astronomer or a physicist--for +instance, my friend Sir William Thomson--tells me that my geological +authority is quite wrong; and that he has weighty evidence to show that +life could not possibly have existed upon the surface of the earth +500,000,000 years ago, because the earth would have then been too hot to +allow of life, my reply is: "That is not my affair; settle that with the +geologist, and when you have come to an agreement among yourselves I +will adopt your conclusions." We take our time from the geologists and +physicists, and it is monstrous that, having taken our time from the +physical philosopher's clock, the physical philosopher should turn round +upon us, and say we are too fast or too slow. What we desire to know is, +is it a fact that evolution took place? As to the amount of time which +evolution may have occupied, we are in the hands of the physicist and +the astronomer, whose business it is to deal with those questions. + +[Illustration: Fig. 9] + +Fore Foot. Hind Foot. Fore-arm. Leg. Upper Molar. Lower Molar. + +RECENT. +EQUUS. + +PLIOCENE. +PLIOHIPPUS. + +PROTOHIPPUS +(_Hipparion_). + +MIOCENE. +MIOHIPPUS +(_Anchitherium_). + +MESOHIPPUS. + +EOCENE. +OROHIPPUS. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] I use the word "type" because it is highly probable that many of the +forms of _Anchitherium_-like and _Hipparion_-like animals existed in the +Miocene and Pliocene epochs, just as many species of the horse tribe +exist now; and it is highly improbable that the particular species of +_Anchitherium_ or _Hipparion_, which happen to have been discovered, +should be precisely those which have formed part of the direct line of +the horse's pedigree. + +[6] Since this lecture was delivered, Professor Marsh has discovered a +new genus of equine mammals (_Eohippus_) from the lowest Eocene +deposits of the West, which corresponds very nearly to this +description.--_American Journal of Science_, November, 1876. + + + + +FIGHTING PESTS WITH INSECT ALLIES + +LELAND O. HOWARD + + [Dr. Howard is Chief of the Division of Entomology in the + United States Department of Agriculture at Washington. He is + a lecturer at Swarthmore College and at Georgetown + University. He has written "The Insect Book," published by + Doubleday, Page & Co., New York; and a work on Mosquitoes, + issued by McClure, Phillips & Co., New York. Both are books + of interest from the hand of a master: they are fully + illustrated. The narrative which follows appeared in + _Everybody's Magazine_, June, 1901.] + + +Some twenty-five years ago there appeared suddenly upon certain acacia +trees at Menlo Park, California, a very destructive scale bug. It +rapidly increased and spread from tree to tree, attacking apples, figs, +pomegranates, quinces, and roses, and many other trees and plants, but +seeming to prefer to all other food the beautiful orange and lemon trees +which grow so luxuriantly on the Pacific Coast, and from which a large +share of the income of so many fruit-growers is gained. This insect, +which came to be known as the _white scale_ or _fluted scale_ or the +_Icerya_ (from its scientific name), was an insignificant creature in +itself, resembling a small bit of fluted wax a little more than a +quarter of an inch long. But when the scales had once taken possession +of a tree, they swarmed over it until the bark was hidden; they sucked +its sap through their minute beaks until the plant became so feeble that +the leaves and young fruit dropped off, a hideous black smut-fungus +crept over the young twigs, and the weakened tree gradually died. + +In this way orchard after orchard of oranges, worth a thousand dollars +or more an acre, was utterly destroyed; the best fruit-growing sections +of the State were invaded, and ruin stared many a fruit-grower in the +face. This spread of the pest was gradual, extending through a series of +years, and not until 1886 did it become so serious a matter as to +attract national attention. + +In this year an investigation was begun by the late Professor C. V. +Riley, the Government entomologist then connected with the Department of +Agriculture at Washington. He sent two agents to California, both of +whom immediately began to study the problem of remedies. In 1887 he +visited California himself, and during that year published an elaborate +report giving the results of the work up to that point. The complete +life-history of the insect had been worked out, and a number of washes +had been discovered which could be applied to the trees in the form of a +spray, and which would kill a large proportion of the pests at a +comparatively small expense. But it was soon found that the average +fruit-grower would not take the trouble to spray his trees, largely from +the fact that he had experimented for some years with inferior washes +and quack nostrums, and from lack of success had become disgusted with +the whole idea of using liquid compounds. Something easier, something +more radical was necessary in his disheartened condition. + +Meantime, after much sifting of evidence and much correspondence with +naturalists in many parts of the world, Professor Riley had decided that +the white scale was a native of Australia, and had been first brought +over to California accidentally upon Australian plants. In the same way +it was found to have reached South Africa and New Zealand, in both of +which colonies it had greatly increased, and had become just such a pest +as it is in California. In Australia, however, its native home, it did +not seem to be abundant, and was not known as a pest--a somewhat +surprising state of affairs, which put the entomologist on the track of +the results which proved of such great value to California. He reasoned +that, in his native home, with the same food plants upon which it +flourished abroad in such great abundance, it would undoubtedly do the +same damage that it does in South Africa, New Zealand, and California, +if there were not in Australia some natural enemy, probable some insect +parasite or predatory beetle, which killed it off. It became therefore +important to send a trained man to Australia to investigate this +promising line. + +After many difficulties in arranging preliminaries relating to the +payment of expenses (in which finally the Department of State kindly +assisted), one of Professor Riley's assistants, a young German named +Albert Koebele, who had been with him for a number of years, sailed for +Australia in August, 1888. Koebele was a skilled collector and an +admirable man for the purpose. He at once found that Professor Riley's +supposition was correct: there existed in Australia small flies which +laid their eggs in the white scales, and these eggs hatched into grubs +which devoured the pests. He also found a remarkable little ladybird, a +small, reddish-brown convex beetle, which breeds with marvellous +rapidity and which, with voracious appetite, and at the same time with +discriminating taste, devours scale after scale, but eats fluted scales +only--does not attack other insects. This beneficial creature, now known +as the Australian ladybird, or the Vedalia, Mr. Koebele at once began to +collect in large numbers, together with several other insects found +doing the same work. He packed many hundreds of living specimens of the +ladybird, with plenty of food, in tin boxes, and had them placed on ice +in the ice-box of the steamer at Sydney; they were carried carefully to +California, where they were liberated upon orange trees at Los Angeles. + +[Illustration: Vedalia, or Australian Ladybird] + +These sendings were repeated for several months, and Mr. Koebele, on his +return in April, 1889, brought with him many more living specimens which +he had collected on his way home in New Zealand, where the same Vedalia +had been accidentally introduced a year or so before. + +[Illustration: Larvae of Vedalia eating White Scale] + +The result more than justified the most sanguine expectations. The +ladybirds reached Los Angeles alive, and, with appetites sharpened by +their long ocean voyage, immediately fell upon the devoted scales and +devoured them one after another almost without rest. Their hunger +temporarily satisfied, they began to lay eggs. These eggs hatched in a +few days into active grub-like creatures--the larvae of the beetles--and +these grubs proved as voracious as their parents. They devoured the +scales right and left, and in less than a month transformed once more to +beetles. + +And so the work of extermination went on. Each female beetle laid on an +average 300 eggs, and each of these eggs hatched into a hungry larva. +Supposing that one-half of these larvae produced female beetles, a simple +calculation will show that in six months a single ladybird became the +ancestor of 75,000,000,000 of other ladybirds, each capable of +destroying very many scale insects. + +[Illustration: Twig of olive infected with Black Scale] + +Is it any wonder, then, that the fluted scales soon began to disappear? +Is it any wonder that orchard after orchard was entirely freed from the +pest, until now over a large section of the State hardly an Icerya is to +be found? And could a more striking illustration of the value of the +study of insects possibly be instanced? In less than a year from the +time when the first of these hungry Australians was liberated from his +box in Los Angeles the orange trees were once more in bloom and were +resuming their old-time verdure--the Icerya had become practically a +thing of the past. + +[Illustration: Rhizobius, the imported enemy of the Black Scale of the +Olive.] + +This wonderful success encouraged other efforts in the same direction. +The State of California some years later sent the same entomologist, +Koebele, to Australia to search for some insect enemy of the black +scale, an insect which threatened the destruction of the extensive olive +orchards of California. He found and successfully introduced another +ladybird beetle, known as _Rhizobius ventralis_, a little dark-coloured +creature which has thrived in the California climate, especially near +the seacoast, and in the damp air of those regions has successfully held +the black scale in check. It was found, however, that back from the +seacoast this insect did not seem to thrive with the same vigor, and the +black scale held its own. Then a spirited controversy sprung up among +the olive-growers, those near the seacoast contending that the +_Rhizobius_ was a perfect remedy for the scale, while those inland +insisted that it was worthless. A few years later it was discovered that +this olive enemy in South Europe is killed by a little caterpillar, +which burrows through scale after scale eating out their contents, and +an effort was made to introduce the caterpillar into California, but +these efforts failed. Within the past two years it has been found that a +small parasitic fly exists in South Africa which lays its eggs in the +same black scale, and its grub-like larvae eat out the bodies of the +scales and destroy them. The climate of the region in which this +parasite exists is dry through a large part of the year, and therefore +this little parasitic fly, known as _Scutellista_, was thought to be +the needed insect for the dry California regions. With the help of Mr. +C. P. Lounsbury, the Government entomologist of Cape Colony, living +specimens of this fly were brought to this country, and were colonized +in the Santa Clara Valley, near San Jose, California, where they have +perpetuated themselves and destroyed many of the black scales, and +promise to be most successful in their warfare against the injurious +insect. + +This same _Scutellista_ parasite had, curiously enough, been previously +introduced in an accidental manner into Italy, probably from India, and +probably in scale-insects living on ornamental plants brought from +India. But in Italy it lives commonly in another scale insect, and with +the assistance of the learned Italian, Professor Antonio Berlese, the +writer made an unsuccessful attempt to introduce and establish it a year +earlier in some of our Southern States, where it was hoped it would +destroy certain injurious insects known as "wax scales." + +In the meantime the United States, not content with keeping all the good +things to herself, has spread the first ladybird imported--the +_Vedalia_--to other countries. Four years ago the white scale was +present in enormous numbers in orange groves on the left bank of the +river Tagus, in Portugal, and threatened to wipe out the orange-growing +industry in that country. The California people, in pursuance of a +far-sighted policy, had with great difficulty, owing to lack of food, +kept alive some colonies of the beneficial beetle, and specimens were +sent to Portugal which reached there alive and flourishing. They were +tended for a short time, and then liberated in the orange groves, with +precisely the same result as in California. In a few months the scale +insects were almost entirely destroyed, and the Portuguese +orange-growers saved from enormous loss. + +This good result in Portugal was not accomplished without opposition. It +was tried experimentally at the advice of the writer, and in the face of +great incredulity on the part of certain Portuguese newspapers and of +some officials. By many prominent persons the account published of the +work of the insect in the United States was considered as untrustworthy, +and simply another instance of American boasting. But the opposition was +overruled, and the triumphant result silenced all opposition. It is safe +to say that the general opinion among Portuguese orange-growers to-day +is very favourable to American enterprise and practical scientific +acumen. + +The _Vedalia_ was earlier sent to the people in Alexandria and Cairo, +Egypt, where a similar scale was damaging the fig trees and other +valuable plants, and the result was again the same, the injurious +insects were destroyed. This was achieved only after extensive +correspondence and several failures. The active agent in Alexandria was +Rear Admiral Blomfield, of the British Royal Navy, a man apparently of +wide information, good judgment, and great energy. + +The same thing occurred when the California people sent this saviour of +horticulture to South Africa, where the white scale had also made its +appearance. + +It is not only beneficial insects, however, which are being imported, +but diseases of injurious insects. In South Africa the colonists suffer +severely from swarms of migratory grasshoppers, which fly from the north +and destroy their crops. They have discovered out there a fungus +disease, which under favorable conditions kills off the grasshoppers in +enormous numbers. At the Bacteriological Institute in Grahamstown, +Natal, they have cultivated this fungus in culture tubes, and have +carried it successfully throughout the whole year; and they have used it +practically by distributing these culture tubes wherever swarms of +grasshoppers settle and lay their eggs. The disease, once started in an +army of young grasshoppers, soon reduces them to harmless numbers. The +United States Government last year secured culture tubes of this +disease, and experiments carried on in Colorado and in Mississippi show +that the vitality of the fungus had not been destroyed by its long ocean +voyage, and many grasshoppers were killed by its spread. During the past +winter other cultures were brought over from Cape Colony, and the fungus +is being propagated in the Department of Agriculture for distribution +during the coming summer in parts of the country where grasshoppers may +prove to be destructively abundant. + +[Illustration: Grasshopper dying from Fungus Disease] + +Although we practically no longer have those tremendous swarms of +migratory grasshoppers which used to come down like devastating armies +in certain of our Western States and in a night devour everything green, +still, almost every year, and especially in the West and South, there +is somewhere a multiplication of grasshoppers to a very injurious +degree, and it is hoped that the introduced fungus can be used in such +cases. + +Persons officially engaged in searching for remedies for injurious +insects all over the world have banded themselves together in a society +known as the Association of Economic Entomologists. They are constantly +interchanging ideas regarding the destruction of insects, and at present +active movements are on foot in this direction of interchanging +beneficial insects. Entomologists in Europe will try the coming summer +to send to the United States living specimens of a tree-inhabiting +beetle which eats the caterpillar of the gipsy moth, and which will +undoubtedly also eat the caterpillar so common upon the shade-trees of +our principal Eastern cities, which is known as the Tussock moth +caterpillar. An entomologist from the United States, Mr. C. L. Marlatt, +has started for Japan, China, and Java, for the purpose of trying to +find the original home of the famous San Jose scale--an insect which has +been doing enormous damage in the apple, pear, peach, and plum orchards +of the United States--and if he finds the original home of this scale, +it is hoped that some natural enemy or parasite will be discovered which +can be introduced into the United States to the advantage of our +fruit-growers. Professor Berlese of Italy, and Dr. Reh, of Germany, +will attempt the introduction into Europe of some of the parasites of +injurious insects which occur in the United States, and particularly +those of the woolly root-louse of the apple, known in Europe as the +"American blight"--one of the few injurious insects which probably went +to Europe from this country, and which in the United States is not so +injurious as it is in Europe. + +It is a curious fact, by the way, that while we have had most of our +very injurious insects from Europe, American insects, when accidentally +introduced into Europe, do not seem to thrive. The insect just +mentioned, and the famous grape-vine _Phylloxera_, a creature which +caused France a greater economic loss than the enormous indemnity which +she had to pay to Germany after the Franco-Prussian War, are practically +the only American insects with which we have been able to repay Europe +for the insects which she has sent us. Climatic differences, no doubt, +account for this strange fact, and our longer and warmer summers are the +principal factor. + +It is not alone the parasitic and predaceous insects which are +beneficial. A new industry has been brought into the United States +during the past two years by the introduction and acclimatization of the +little insect which fertilizes the Smyrna fig in Mediterranean +countries. The dried-fig industry in this country has never amounted to +anything. The Smyrna fig has controlled the dried-fig markets of the +world, but in California the Smyrna fig has never held its fruit, the +young figs dropping from the trees without ripening. It was found that +in Mediterranean regions a little insect, known as the _Blastophaga_, +fertilizes the flowers of the Smyrna fig with pollen from the wild fig +which it inhabits. The United States Department of Agriculture in the +spring of 1899 imported successfully some of these insects through one +of its travelling agents, Mr. W. T. Swingle, and the insect was +successfully established at Fresno in the San Joaquin Valley. A +far-sighted fruit-grower, Mr. George C. Roeding, of Fresno, had planted +some years previously an orchard of 5,000 Smyrna fig trees and wild fig +trees, and his place was the one chosen for the successful experiment. +The little insect multiplied with astonishing rapidity, was carried +successfully through the winter of 1899-1900, and in the summer of 1900 +was present in such great numbers that it fertilized thousands of figs, +and fifteen tons of them ripened. When these figs were dried and packed +it was discovered that they were superior to the best imported figs. +They contained more sugar and were of a finer flavor than those brought +from Smyrna and Algeria. The _Blastophaga_ has come to stay, and the +prospects for a new and important industry are assured. + +With all these experiments the criticism is constantly made that +unwittingly new and serious enemies to agriculture may be introduced. +The unfortunate introduction of the English sparrow into this country is +mentioned, and the equally unfortunate introduction of the East Indian +mongoose into the West Indies as well. The fear is expressed that the +beneficial parasitic insects, after they have destroyed the injurious +insects, will either themselves attack valuable crops or do something +else of an equally harmful nature. But there is no reason for such +alarm. The English sparrow feeds on all sorts of things, and the East +Indian mongoose, while it was introduced into Jamaica to kill snakes, +was found, too late, to be also a very general feeder. As a matter of +fact, after the snakes were destroyed, and even before, it attacked +young pigs, kids, lambs, calves, puppies, and kittens, and also +destroyed bananas, pineapples, corn, sweet potatoes, cocoanuts, peas, +sugar corn, meat, and salt provisions and fish. But with the parasitic +and predatory insects the food habits are definite and fixed. They can +live on nothing but their natural food, and in its absence they die. The +Australian ladybird originally imported, for example, will feed upon +nothing but scale insects of a particular genus, and, as a matter of +fact, as soon as the fluted scales became scarce the California +officials had the greatest difficulty in keeping the little beetles +alive, and were actually obliged to cultivate for food the very insects +which they were formerly so anxious to wipe out of existence! With the +_Scutellista_ parasite the same fact holds. The fly itself does not +feed, and its young feed only upon certain scale insects, and so with +all the rest. + +All of these experiments are being carried on by men learned in the ways +of insects, and only beneficial results, or at the very least negative +ones, can follow. And even where only one such experiment out of a +hundred is successful, what a saving it will mean! + +We do not expect the time to come when the farmer, finding Hessian fly +in his wheat, will have only to telegraph the nearest experiment +station, "Send at once two dozen first-class parasites;" but in many +cases, and with a number of different kinds of injurious insects, +especially those introduced from foreign countries, it is probable that +we can gain much relief by the introduction of their natural enemies +from their original home. + + + + +THE STRANGE STORY OF THE FLOWERS + +GEORGE ILES + + [From "The Wild Flowers of America," copyright by G. H. Buek + & Co., New York, 1894, by their kind permission. The American + edition is out of print: the Canadian edition, "Wild Flowers + of Canada," is published by Graham & Co., Montreal, Canada. + The work describes and illustrates in their natural tints + nearly three hundred beautiful flowers.] + + +Imagine a Venetian doge, a French crusader, a courtier of the time of +the second Charles, an Ojibway chief, a Justice of the Supreme Court, in +the formal black of evening dress, and how much each of them would lose! +Where there is beauty, strength or dignity, dress can heighten it; where +all these are lacking, their absence is kept out of mind by raiment in +itself worthy to be admired. If dress artificial has told for much in +the history of human-kind, dress natural has told for yet more in the +lesser world of plant and insect life. In some degree the tiny folk that +reign in the air, like ourselves, are drawn by grace of form, by charm +of colour; of elaborate display of their attractions moths, butterflies +and beetles are just as fond as any belles of the ball-room. Now let us +bear in mind that of all the creatures that share the earth with man, +the one that stands next to him in intelligence is neither a biped nor +a quadruped, but that king of the insect tribe, the ant, which can be a +herdsman and warehouse-keeper, an engineer and builder, an explorer and +a general. With all his varied powers the ant lacks a peculiarity in his +costume which has denied him enlistment in a task of revolution in which +creatures far his inferiors have been able to change the face of the +earth. And the marvel of this peculiarity of garb which has meant so +much, is that it consists in no detail of graceful outline, or beauty of +tint, but solely in the minor matter of texture. The ant, warrior that +he is, wears smooth and shining armour; the bee, the moth and the +butterfly are clad in downy vesture, and simply because thus enabled to +catch dust on their clothes these insects, as weavers of the web of +life, have counted for immensely more than the ant with all his brains +and character. To understand the mighty train of consequences set in +motion by this mere shagginess of coat, let us remember that, like a +human babe, every flowering plant has two parents. These two parents, +though a county's breadth divide them, are wedded the instant that +pollen from the anther of one of them meets the stigma of the other. +Many flowers find their mates upon their own stem; but, as in the races +of animals, too close intermarriage is hurtful, and union with a distant +stock promotes both health and vigor. Hence the great gain which has +come to plants by engaging the wind as their matchmaker--as every +summer shows us in its pollen-laden air, the oaks, the pines, the +cottonwoods, and a host of other plants commit to the breeze the winged +atoms charged with the continuance of their kind. Nevertheless, long as +the wind has been employed at this work, it has not yet learned to do it +well; nearly all the pollen entrusted to it is wasted, and this while +its production draws severely upon the strength of a plant. As good +fortune will have it, a great many flowers close to their pollen yield +an ample supply of nectar: a food esteemed delicious by the whole round +of insects, winged and wingless. While ants might sip this nectar of +ages without plants being any the better or the worse; a very different +result has followed upon the visits of bees, wasps, and other +hairy-coated callers. These, as they devour nectar, dust themselves with +the pollen near by. Yellowed or whitened with this freightage, moth and +butterfly, as they sail through the air, know not that they are +publishing the banns of marriage between two blossoms acres or, it may +be, miles apart. Yet so it is. Alighting on a new flower the insect rubs +a pollen grain on a stigma ready to receive it, and lo! the rites of +matrimony are solemnized then and there. Unwittingly the little visitor +has wrought a task bigger with fate than many an act loudly trumpeted +among the mightiest deeds of men! On the threshold of a Lady's Slipper a +bee may often be detected in the act of entrance. In the Sage-flower he +finds an anther of the stamen which, pivoted on its spring, dusts him +even more effectually. + +[Illustration: Sage-flower and Bee] + +Bountifully to spread a table is much, but not enough, for without +invitation how can hospitality be dispensed? To the feast of nectar the +blossoms join their bidding; and those most conspicuously borne and +massed, gayest of hue, richest in odor, secure most guests, and are +therefore most likely to transmit to their kind their own excellences as +hosts and entertainers. Thus all the glories of the blossoms have arisen +in doing useful work; their beauty is not mere ornament, but the sign +and token of duty well performed. Our opportunity to admire the radiancy +and perfume of a jessamine or a pond-lily is due to the previous +admiration of uncounted winged attendants. If a winsome maid adorns +herself with a wreath from the garden, and carries a posy gathered at +the brookside, it is for the second time that their charms are impressed +into service; for the flowers' own ends of attraction all their scent +and loveliness were called into being long before. + +Let us put flowers of the blue flag beside those of the maple, and we +shall have a fair contrast between the brilliancy of blossoms whose +marrier has been an insect, and the dinginess of flowers indebted to the +services of the wind. Can it be that both kinds of flowers are descended +from forms resembling each other in want of grace and colour? Such, +indeed, is the truth. But how, as the generations of the flowers +succeeded one another, did differences so striking come about? In our +rambles afield let us seek a clue to the mystery. It is late in +springtime, and near the border of a bit of swamp we notice a clump of +violets: they are pale of hue, and every stalk of them rises to an +almost weedy height. + +[Illustration: Wild Rose, Single] + +Twenty paces away, on a knoll of dry ground, we find more violets, but +these are in much deeper tints of azure and yellow, while their stalks +are scarcely more than half as tall as their brethren near the swamp. +Six weeks pass by. This time we walk to a wood-lot close to a brimming +pond. At its edge are more than a score wild-rose bushes. On the very +first of them we see that some of the blossoms are a light pink, others +a pink so deep as to seem dashed with vivid red. And while a flower here +and there is decidedly larger and more vigorous than its fellows, a few +of the blossoms are undersized and puny: the tide of life flows high and +merrily in a fortunate rose or two, it seems to ebb and falter by the +time it reaches one or two of their unhappy mates. As we search bush +after bush we are at last repaid for sundry scratches from their thorns +by securing a double rose, a "sport," as the gardener would call it. And +in the broad meadow between us and home we well know that for the quest +we can have not only four-leaved clovers, but perchance a handful of +five and six-leaved prizes. The secret is out. Flowers and leaves are +not cast like bullets in rigid moulds, but differ from their parents +much as children do. Usually the difference is slight, at times it is as +marked as in our double rose. Whenever the change in a flower is for the +worse, as in the sickly violets and roses we have observed, that +particular change ends there--with death. But when the change makes a +healthy flower a little more attractive to its insect ministers, it will +naturally be chosen by them for service, and these choosings, kept up +year after year, and century upon century, have at last accomplished +much the same result as if the moth, the bee, and the rest of them had +been given power to create blossoms of the most welcome forms, the most +alluring tints, the most bewitching perfumes. + +In farther jaunts afield we shall discover yet more. It is May, and a +heavy rainstorm has caused the petals of a trillium to forget +themselves and return to their primitive hue of leafy green. A month +later we come upon a buttercup, one of whose sepals has grown out as a +small but perfect leaf. Later still in summer we find a rose in the same +surprising case, while not far off is a columbine bearing pollen on its +spurs instead of its anthers. What family tie is betrayed in all this? +No other than that sepals, petals, anthers and pistils are but leaves in +disguise, and that we have detected nature returning to the form from +which ages ago she began to transmute the parts of flowers in all their +teeming diversity. The leaf is the parent not only of all these but of +delicate tendrils, which save a vine the cost of building a stem stout +enough to lift it to open air and sunshine. However thoroughly, or +however long, a habit may be impressed upon a part of a plant, it may on +occasion relapse into a habit older still, resume a shape all but +forgotten, and thus tell a story of its past that otherwise might remain +forever unsuspected. Thus it is with the somewhat rare "sport" that +gives us a morning glory or a harebell in its primitive form of unjoined +petals. The bell form of these and similar flowers has established +itself by being much more effective than the original shape in dusting +insect servitors with pollen. Not only the forms of flowers but their +massing has been determined by insect preferences; a wide profusion of +blossoms grow in spikes, umbels, racemes and other clusters, all +economizing the time of winged allies, and attracting their attention +from afar as scattered blossoms would fail to do. Besides this massing, +we have union more intimate still as in the dandelion, the sun-flower +and the marigold. These and their fellow composites each seem an +individual; a penknife discloses each of them to be an aggregate of +blossoms. So gainful has this kind of co-operation proved that +composites are now dominant among plants in every quarter of the globe. +As to how composites grew before they learned that union is strength, a +hint is dropped in the "sport" of the daisy known as "the hen and +chickens," where perhaps as many as a dozen florets, each on a stalk of +its own, ray out from a mother flower. + +While for the most part insects have been mere choosers from among +various styles of architecture set before them by plants, they have +sometimes risen to the dignity of builders on their own account, and +without ever knowing it. The buttress of the larkspur has sprung forth +in response to the pressure of one bee's weight after another, and many +a like structure has had the very same origin,--or shall we say, +provocation? In these and in other examples unnumbered, culminating in +the marvellous orchids and their ministers, there has come about the +closest adaptation of flower-shape to insect-form, the one now clearly +the counterpart of the other. + +We must not forget that the hospitality of a flower is after all the +hospitality of an inn-keeper who earns and requires payment. Vexed as +flowers are apt to be by intruders that consume their stores without +requital, no wonder that they present so ample an array of repulsion and +defence. Best of all is such a resource as that of the red clover, which +hides its honey at the bottom of a tube so deep that only a friendly +bumblebee can sip it. Less effective, but well worth a moment's +examination, are the methods by which leaves are opposed as fences for +the discouragement of thieves. Here, in a Bellwort, is a perfoliate leaf +that encircles the stem upon which it grows; and there in a Honeysuckle +is a connate leaf on much the same plan, formed of two leaves, stiff and +strong, soldered at their bases. Sometimes the pillager meets prickles +that sting him, as in the roses and briers; and if he is a little fellow +he is sure to regard him with intense disgust, a bristly guard of wiry +hair--hence the commonness of that kind of fortification. Against +enemies of larger growth a tree or shrub will often aim sharp +thorns--another piece of masquerade, for thorns are but branches checked +in growth, and frowning with a barb in token of disappointment at not +being able to smile in a blossom. In every jot and tittle of barb and +prickle, of the glossiness which disheartens or the gumminess which +ensnares, we may be sure that equally with all the lures of hue, form +and scent, nothing, however trifling it may seem, is as we find it, +except through usefulness long tested and approved. In flowers, much +that at first glance looks like idle decoration, on closer scrutiny +reveals itself as service in disguise. In penetrating these disguises +and many more of other phases, the student of flowers delights to busy +himself. He loves, too, to detect the cousinship of plants through all +the change of dress and habit due to their rearing under widely +different skies and nurture, to their being surrounded by strangely +contrasted foes and friends. Often he can link two plants together only +by going into partnership with a student of the rocks, by turning back +the records of the earth until he comes upon a flower long extinct, a +plant which ages ago found the struggle for life too severe for it. He +ever takes care to observe his flowers accurately and fully, but chiefly +that he may rise from observation to explanation, from bare facts to +their causes, from declaring What, to understanding, Whence and How. + +One of the stock resources of novelists, now somewhat out of date, was +the inn-keeper who beamed in welcome of his guest, grasped his hand in +gladness, and loaded a table for him in tempting array, and all with +intent that later in the day (or night) he might the more securely +plunge a dagger into his victim's heart--if, indeed, he had not already +improved an opportunity to offer to that victim's lips a poisoned cup. +This imagined treachery might well have been suggested by the behaviour +of certain alluring plants that so far from repelling thieves, or +discouraging pillagers, open their arms to all comers--with purpose of +the deadliest. Of these betrayers the chief is the round-leaved sun-dew, +which plies its nefarious vocation all the way from Labrador to Florida. +Its favourite site is a peat-bog or a bit of swampy lowland, where in +July and August we can see its pretty little white blossoms beckoning to +wayfaring flies and moths their token of good cheer! Circling the +flower-stalk, in rosette fashion, are a dozen or more round leaves, each +of them wearing scores of glands, very like little pins, a drop of gum +glistening on each and every pin by way of head. This appetizing gum is +no other than a fatal stick-fast, the raying pins closing in its aid the +more certainly to secure a hapless prisoner. Soon his prison-house +becomes a stomach for his absorption. Its duty of digestion done, the +leaf in all seeming guilessness once more expands itself for the +enticement of a dupe. To see how much the sun-dew must depend upon its +meal of insects we have only to pull it up from the ground. A touch +suffices--it has just root enough to drink by; the soil in which it +makes, and perhaps has been obliged to make, its home has nothing else +but drink to give it. + +Less accomplished in its task of assassination is the common butterwort +to be found on wet rocks in scattered districts of Canada and the States +adjoining Canada. Surrounding its pretty violet flowers, of funnel +shape, are gummy leaves which close upon their all too trusting guests, +but with less expertness than the sun-dew's. The butterwort is but a +'prentice hand in the art of murder, and its intended victims often +manage to get away from it. Built on a very different model is the +bladderwort, busy in stagnant ponds near the sea coast from Nova Scotia +to Texas. Its little white spongy bladders, about a tenth of an inch +across, encircle the flowering stem by scores. From each bladder a bunch +of twelve or fifteen hairy prongs protrude, giving the structure no +slight resemblance to an insect form. These prongs hide a valve which, +as many an unhappy little swimmer can attest, opens inward easily +enough, but opens outward never. As in the case of its cousinry a-land, +the bladderwort at its leisure dines upon its prey. + +[Illustration: Venus' Fly Trap--Open with a Welcome] + +In marshy places near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, in the vicinity +of Wilmington, North Carolina, grows the Venus' fly-trap, most wonderful +of all the death-dealers of vegetation. Like much else in nature's +handiwork this plant might well have given inventors a hint worth +taking. The hairy fringes of its leaves are as responsive to a touch +from moth or fly as the sensitive plant itself. And he must be either a +very small or a particularly sturdy little captive that can escape +through the sharp opposed teeth of its formidable snare. It is one of +the unexplained puzzles of plant life that the Venus' fly-trap, so +marvellous in its ingenuity, should not only be confined to a single +district, but should seem to be losing its hold of even that small +kingdom. Of still another type is the pitcher plant, or side-saddle +flower, which flaunts its deep purple petals in June in many a peat-bog +from Canada southward to Louisiana and Florida. Its leaves develop +themselves into lidded cups, half-filled with sweetish juice, which +first lures a fly or ant, then makes him tipsy, and then despatches him. +The broth resulting is both meat and drink to the plant, serving as a +store and reservoir against times of drought and scarcity. + +[Illustration: Shut for Slaughter] + +Now the question is, How came about this strange and somewhat horrid +means of livelihood? How did plants of so diverse families turn the +tables on the insect world, and learn to eat instead of being themselves +devoured? A beginner in the builder's art finds it much more gainful to +examine the masonry of foundations, the rearing of walls, the placing of +girders and joists, the springing of arches and buttresses, than to look +at a cathedral, a courthouse, or a bank, finished and in service. In +like manner a student of insect-eating plants tries to find their leaves +in the making, in all the various stages which bridge their common forms +with the shapes they assume when fully armed and busy. Availing himself +of the relapses into old habits which plants occasionally exhibit under +cultivation, Mr. Dickson has taught us much regarding the way the +pitcher plant of Australia, the _Cephalotus_, has come to be what it is. +He has arranged in a connected series all the forms of its leaf from +that of a normal leaf with a mere dimple in it, to the deeply pouched +and lidded pitcher ready for deceitful hospitalities. And similar +transformations have without doubt taken place in the pitcher plants of +America. Observers in the Cape of Good Hope have noted two plants +_Roridula dentata_ and _Biblys gigantea_, which are evidently following +in the footsteps of the sundews, and may be expected in the fulness of +years to be their equal partners in crime. But why need we wander so far +as South Africa to find the germs of this strange rapacity when we can +see at home a full dozen species of catch-fly, sedums, primulas, and +geraniums pouring out glutinous juices in which insects are entangled? +Let stress of hunger, long continued, force any of these to turn its +attention to the dietary thus proffered, and how soon might not the +plant find in felony the sustenance refused to honest toil? + +But after all the plants that have meat for dinner are only a few. The +greater part of the vegetable kingdom draws its supplies from the air +and the soil. Those plants, and they are many, that derive their chief +nourishment from the atmosphere have a decidedly thin diet. Which of us +would thrive on milk at the rate of a pint to five hogsheads of water? +Such is the proportion in which air contains carbonic acid gas, the main +source of strength for many thousands of trees, shrubs, and other +plants. No wonder that they array themselves in so broad an expanse of +leafage. An elm with a spread of seventy feet is swaying in the summer +breeze at least five acres of foliage as its lungs and stomach. Beyond +the shade of elms and maples let us stroll past yonder stretch of +pasture and we shall notice how the grass in patches here and there +deepens into green of the richest--a plain token of moisture in the +hollows--a blessing indeed in this dry weather. In the far West and +Northwest the buffalo grass has often to contend with drought for months +together, so that it has learned to strike deep in quest of water to +quench its thirst. It is a by-word among the ranchmen that the roots go +clear through the earth and are clinched as they sprout from the ground +in China. Joking apart, they have been found sixty-eight feet below the +surface of the prairie, and often in especially dry seasons cattle would +perish were not these faithful little well-diggers and pumpers +constantly at work for them. In the river valleys of Arizona although +the air is dry the subsoil water is near the surface of the ground. Here +flourishes the mesquit tree, _Prosopis juliflora_, with a tale to tell +well worth knowing. When a mesquit seems stunted, it is because its +strength is withdrawn for the task of delving to find water; where a +tree grows tall with goodly branches, it betokens success in reaching +moisture close at hand. Thus in shrewdly reading the landscape a +prospector can choose the spot where with least trouble he can sink his +well. And plants discover provender in the soil as well as drink. Nearer +home than Arizona we have only to dislodge a beach pea from the ground +to see how far in search of food its roots have dug amid barren stones +and pebbles. Often one finds a plant hardly a foot high with roots +extending eight feet from its stem. + +And beyond the beaches where the beach peas dig so diligently are the +seaweeds--with a talent for picking and choosing all their own. Dr. +Julius Sachs, a leading German botanist, believes that the parts of +plants owe their form, as crystals do, to their peculiarities of +substance; that just as salt crystallizes in one shape and sugar in +another, so a seaweed or a tulip is moulded by the character of its +juices. Something certainly of the crystal's faculty for picking out +particles akin to itself, and building with them, is shown by the kelp +which attracts from the ocean both iodine and bromine--often dissolved +though they are in a million times their bulk of sea water. This trait +of choosing this or that dish from the feast afforded by sea or soil or +air is not peculiar to the seaweeds; every plant displays it. Beech +trees love to grow on limestone and thus declare to the explorer the +limestone ridge he seeks. In the Horn silver mine, of Utah, the zinc +mingled with the silver ore is betrayed by the abundance of the zinc +violet, a delicate and beautiful cousin of the pansy. In Germany this +little flower is admittedly a signal of zinc in the earth, and zinc is +found in its juices. The late Mr. William Dorn, of South Carolina, had +faith in a bush, of unrecorded name, as betokening gold-bearing veins +beneath it. That his faith was not without foundation is proved by the +large fortune he won as a gold miner in the Blue Ridge country--his +guide the bush aforesaid. Mr. Rossiter W. Raymond, the eminent mining +engineer of New York, has given some attention to this matter of +"indicative plants." He is of the opinion that its unwritten lore among +practical miners, prospectors, hunters, and Indians is well worth +sifting. Their observations, often faulty, may occasionally be sound and +valuable enough richly to repay the trouble of separating truth from +error. When we see how important as signs of water many plants can be, +why may we not find other plants denoting the minerals which they +especially relish as food or condiment? + +Of more account than gold or silver are the harvests of wheat and corn +that ripen in our fields. There the special appetites of plants have +much more than merely curious interest for the farmer. He knows full +well that his land is but a larder which serves him best when not part +but all its stores are in demand. Hence his crop "rotation," his +succession of wheat to clover, of grass to both. Were he to grow barley +every year he would soon find his soil bared of all the food that barley +asks, while fare for peas or clover stood scarcely broached. If he +insists on planting barley always, then he must perforce restore to the +land the food for barley constantly withdrawn. + +[Illustration: Maple Seed, with pair of wings] + +A plant may diligently find food and drink, pour forth delicious nectar, +array itself with flowers as gayly as it can, and still behold its work +unfinished. Its seed may be produced in plenty, and although as far as +that goes it is well, it is not enough. Of what avail is all this seed +if it falls as it ripens upon soil already overcrowded with its kind? +Hence the vigorous emigration policy to be observed in plants of every +name. Hence the fluffy sails set to catch the passing breeze by the +dandelion, the thistle and by many more, including the southern plant of +snowy wealth whose wings are cotton. With the same intent of seeking new +fields are the hooks of the burdock, the unicorn plant, and the +bur-parsley which impress as carriers the sheep and cattle upon a +thousand hills. The Touch-me-not and the herb Robert adopt a different +plan, and convert their seed-cases into pistols for the firing of seeds +at as wide range as twenty feet or more. The maple, the ash, the +hornbeam, the elm and the birch have yet another method of escape from +the home acre. Their seeds are winged, and torn off in a gale are +frequently borne two hundred yards away. And stronger wings than these +are plied in the cherry tree's service. The birds bide the time when a +blush upon the fruit betrays its ripeness. Then the cherries are +greedily devoured, and their seed, preserved from digestion in their +stony cases are borne over hill, dale, and river to some islet or +brookside where a sprouting cherry plant will be free from the stifling +rivalries suffered by its parent. Yoked in harness with sheep, ox, and +bird as planter is yonder nimble squirrel. We need not begrudge him the +store of nuts he hides. He will forget some of them, he will be +prevented by fright or frost from nibbling yet more, and so without +intending it he will ensure for others and himself a sure succession of +acorns and butternuts. + +Very singular are the seeds that have come to resemble beetles; among +these may be mentioned the seeds of the castor-oil plant and of the +_Iatropha_. The pod of the _Biserrula_ looks like a worm, and a worm +half-coiled might well have served as a model for the mimicry of the +_Scorpiurus vermiculata_. All these are much more likely to enlist the +services of birds than if their resemblances to insects were less +striking. + +Nature elsewhere rich in hints to the gardener and the farmer is not +silent here. A lesson plainly taught in all this apparatus for the +dispersal of seeds is that the more various the planting the fuller the +harvest. Now that from the wheat fields comes a cry of disappearing +gains, it is time to heed the story told in the unbroken prairie that +diversity in sowing means wealth in reaping. + +In a field of growing flax we can find--somewhat oftener than the farmer +likes--a curious tribe of plants, the dodders. Their stems are thin and +wiry, and their small white flowers, globular in shape, make the azure +blossoms of the flax all the lovelier by contrast. As their cousins the +morning glories are to this day, the dodders in their first estate were +true climbers. Even now they begin life in an honest kind of way with +roots of their own that go forth as roots should, seeking food where it +is to be found in the soil. But if we pull up one of these little +club-shaped roots we shall see that it has gone to work feebly and +doubtfully; it seems to have a skulking expectation of dinner without +having to dig and delve for it in the rough dirty ground. Nor is this +expectation unfounded. Watch the stem of a sister dodder as it rises +from the earth day by day, and it will be observed to clasp a stalk of +flax very tightly; so tightly that its suckers will absorb the juices of +its unhappy host. When, so very easily, it can regale itself with food +ready to hand why should it take the trouble to drudge for a living? + +Like many another pauper demoralized by being fed in idleness, the plant +now abandons honest toil, its roots from lack of exercise wither away, +and for good and all it ceases to claim any independence whatever. +Indeed, so deep is the dodder's degradation that if it cannot find a +stem of flax, or hop, or other plant whereon to climb and thrive, it +will simply shrivel and die rather than resume habits of industry so +long renounced as to be at last forgotten. + +Like the lowly dodder the mistletoe is a climber that has discovered +large opportunities of theft in ascending the stem of a supporting +plant. On this continent the mistletoe scales a wide variety of trees +and shrubs, preferring poplars and apple trees, where these are to be +had. Its extremely slender stem, its meagre leaves, its small flowers, +greenish and leathery, are all eloquent as to the loss of strength and +beauty inevitable to a parasite. Rising as this singular plant does out +of the branches of another with a distinct life all its own, it is no +other than a natural graft, and it is very probable that from the hint +it so unmistakably gives the first gardeners were not slow to adopt +grafts artificial--among the resources which have most enriched and +diversified both flowers and fruits. The dodders and mistletoes rob +juices from the stem and branches of their unfortunate hosts; more +numerous still are the unbidden guests that fasten themselves upon the +roots of their prey. The broom-rape, a comparatively recent immigrant +from Europe, lays hold of the roots of thyme in preference to other +place of entertainment; the Yellow Rattle, the Lousewort, and many more +attach themselves to the roots of grasses--frequently with a serious +curtailment of crop. + +Yet in this very department of hers Nature has for ages hidden away what +has been disclosed within twenty years as one of her least suspected +marvels. It is no other than that certain parasites of field and meadow +so far from being hurtful, are well worth cultivating for the good they +do. For a long time the men who devoted themselves to the study of peas, +beans, clovers, and other plants of the pulse family, were confronted +with a riddle they could not solve. These plants all manage to enrich +themselves with compounds of nitrogen, which make them particularly +valuable as food, and these compounds often exist in a degree far +exceeding the rate at which their nitrogen comes out of the soil. And +this while they have no direct means of seizing upon the nitrogen +contained in its great reservoir--the atmosphere. Upon certain roots of +beans and peas it was noted that there were little round excrescences +about the size of a small pin's head. These excrescences on examination +with a microscope proved to be swarming with bacteria of minute +dimensions. Further investigation abundantly showed that these little +guests paid a handsome price for their board and lodging--while they +subsisted in part on the juices of their host they passed into the bean +or pea certain valuable compounds of nitrogen which they built from +common air. At the Columbian Exposition, of 1893, one of the striking +exhibits in the Agricultural Building set this forth in detail. Vials +were shown containing these tiny subterranean aids to the farmer, and +large photographs showed in natural size the vast increase of crop due +to the farmer's taking bacteria into partnership. To-day these little +organisms are cultivated of set purpose, and quest is being made for +similar bacteria suitable to be harnessed in producing wheat, corn, and +other harvests. + +These are times when men of science are discontented with mere +observation. They wish to pass from watching things as nature presents +them to putting them into relations wholly new. In 1866 DeBary, a close +observer of lichens, felt confident that a lichen was not the simple +growth it seems, but a combination of fungus and algae. This opinion, so +much opposed to honoured tradition, was scouted, but not for long. +Before many months had passed Stahl took known algae, and upon them sowed +a known fungus, the result was a known lichen! The fungus turns out to +be no other than a slave-driver that captures algae in colonies and makes +them work for him. He is, however, a slave-driver of an intelligent +sort; his captives thrive under his mastery, and increase more rapidly +for the healthy exercise he insists that they shall take. + +It is an afternoon in August and the sultry air compels us to take +shelter in a grove of swaying maples. Beneath their shade every square +yard of ground bears a score of infant trees, very few of them as much +as a foot in stature. How vain their expectation of one day enjoying an +ample spread of branch and root, of rising to the free sunshine of upper +air! The scene, with its quivering rounds of sunlight, seems peace +itself, but the seeming is only a mask for war as unrelenting as that +of weaponed armies. For every ray of the sunbeam, for every atom of +food, for every inch of standing room, there is deadly rivalry. To begin +the fight is vastly easier than to maintain it, and not one in a hundred +of these bantlings will ever know maturity. We have only to do what +Darwin did--count the plants that throng a foot of sod in spring, count +them again in summer, and at the summer's end, to find how great the +inexorable carnage in this unseen combat, how few its survivors. So hard +here is the fight for a foothold, for daily bread, that the playfulness +inborn in every healthy plant can peep out but timidly and seldom. But +when strife is exchanged for peace, when a plant is once safely +sheltered behind a garden fence, then the struggles of the battlefield +give place to the diversions of the garrison--diversions not +infrequently hilarious enough. Now food abounds and superabounds; +henceforth neither drought nor deluge can work their evil will; insect +foes, as well as may be, are kept at bay; there is room in plenty +instead of dismal overcrowding. The grateful plant repays the care +bestowed upon it by bursting into a sportiveness unsuspected, and indeed +impossible, amidst the alarms and frays incessant in the wilderness. It +departs from parental habits in most astonishing fashion, puts forth +blossoms of fresh grace of form, of new dyes, of doubled magnitude. The +gardener's opportunity has come. He can seize upon such of these +"sports" as he chooses and make them the confirmed habits of his wards. +Take a stroll through his parterres and greenhouses, where side by side +he shows you pansies of myriad tints and the modest little wild violets +of kindred to the pansies' ancestral stock. Let him contrast for you +roses, asters, tuberous begonias, hollyhocks, dahlias, pelargoniums, +before cultivation and since. Were wild flowers clay, were the gardener +both painter and sculptor, he could not have wrought marvels more +glorious than these. In a few years the brethren of his guild have +brought about a revolution for which, if possible at all to her, nature +in the open fields would ask long centuries. And the gardener's +experiments with these strange children of his have all the charm of +surprise. No passive chooser is he of "sports" of promise, but an active +matchmaker between flowers often brought together from realms as far +apart as France and China. Sometimes his experiment is an instant +success. Mr. William Paul, a famous creator of splendid flowers, tells +us that at a time when climbing roses were either white or yellow, he +thought he would like to produce one of bright dark colour. Accordingly +he mated the Rose Athelin, of vivid crimson, with Russelliana, a hardy +climber, and lo, the flower he had imagined and longed for stood +revealed! But this hitting the mark at the first shot is uncommon good +fortune with the gardener. No experience with primrose or chrysanthemum +is long and varied enough to tell him how the crossing of two different +stocks will issue. A rose which season after season opposes only +indifference to all his pains may be secretly gathering strength for a +bound beyond its ancestral paths which will carry it much farther than +his hopes, or, perhaps, his wishes. + +Most flowers are admired for their own sweet sake, but who thinks less +of an apple or cherry blossom because it bears in its beauty the promise +of delicious fruit? Put a red Astrachan beside a sorry crab, a Bartlett +pear next a tough, diminutive wild pear such as it is descended from, an +ear of milky corn in contrast with an ear one-fourth its size, each +grain of which, small and dry, is wrapped in a sheath by itself; and +rejoice that fruits and grains as well as flowers can learn new lessons +and remember them. At Concord, Massachusetts, in an honoured old age, +dwells Mr. Ephraim W. Bull. In his garden he delights to show the mother +vine of the Concord grape which he developed from a native wild grape +planted as long ago as 1843. Another "sport" of great value was the +nectarine, which was seized upon as it made its appearance on a peach +bough. Throughout America are scattered experiment stations, part of +whose business it is to provoke fresh varieties of wheat, or corn, or +other useful plant, and make permanent such of them as show special +richness of yield; earliness in ripening; stoutness of resistance to +Jack Frost, or blight, or insect pests. Suppose that dire disaster +swept from off the earth every cereal used as food. Professor Goodale, +Professor Asa Gray's successor at Harvard University, has so much +confidence in the experiment stations of America that he deems them well +able to repair the loss we have imagined; within fifty years, he thinks, +from plants now uncultivated the task could be accomplished. Among the +men who have best served the world by hastening nature's steps in the +improvement of flowers and fruits, stands Mr. Vilmorin, of Paris. He it +was who in creating the sugar beet laid the foundation for one of the +chief industries of our time. One of his rules is to select at first not +the plant which varies most in the direction he wishes, but the plant +that varies most in any direction whatever. From it, from the +instability of its very fibres, its utter forgetfulness of ancestral +traditions, he finds it easiest in the long run to obtain and to +establish the character he seeks of sweetness, or size, or colour. + +Of flowering plants there are about 110,000, of these the farmer and the +gardener between them have scarcely tamed and trained 1,000. What new +riches, therefore, may we not expect from the culture of the future? +Already in certain northern flower-pots the trillium, the bloodroot, the +dog's-tooth violet, and the celandine are abloom in May; as June +advances, the wild violet, the milkweed, the wild lily-of-the-valley, +unfold their petals; later in summer the dog-rose displays its charms +and breathes its perfume. All respond kindly to care, and were there +more of this hospitality, were the wild roses which the botanist calls +_blanda_ and _lucida_, were the cardinal flowers, the May flowers, and +many more of the treasures of glen and meadow, made welcome with +thoughtful study of their wants and habits, much would be done to extend +the wealth of our gardens. Let a hepatica be plucked from its home in a +rocky crevice where one marvels how it ever contrived to root itself and +find subsistence. Transplant it to good soil, give it a little care--it +asks none--and it will thrive as it never throve before; proving once +again that plants do not grow where they like, but where they can. The +Russian columbine rewards its cultivator with a wealth of blossoms that +plainly say how much it rejoices in his nurture of it, in its escape +from the frost and tempest that have assailed it for so many +generations. + +But here we must be content to take a leaf out of nature's book, and +look for small results unless our experiments are broadly planned. It is +in great nurseries and gardens, not in little door-yards that "sports" +are likely to arise, and to meet the skill which can confirm them as new +varieties. + +Japan has much to teach us with regard to flowers: nowhere else on earth +are they so sedulously cultivated, or so faithfully studied in all their +changeful beauty. Perhaps the most striking revelation of the Japanese +gardener is his treatment of flowering shrubs and flowering trees +disposed in masses. Happy the visitors to Tokio who sees in springtime +the cherry blossoms ready to lend their witchery to the Empress's +reception! Much is done to extend the reign of beauty in a garden when +it is fitly bordered with berry-bearers. Rows of mountain ash, +snow-berry, and hawthorn trees give colour just when colour is most +effective, at the time when most flowers are past and gone. + +In the practical bit of ground where the kitchen garden meets the +flowers, Japan has long since enlarged its bill of fare with the tuber +of a cousin of our common hedge nettle, with the roots of the large +burdock, commoner still. In Florida, the calla lily has use as well as +beauty; it is cultivated for its potato-like tubers. + +Much as the study of flowers heightens our interest in them, their +first, their chief enduring charm consists in their simple beauty--their +infinitely varied grace of form, their exhaustless wealth of changeful +tints. Off we go with delight from desk and book to a breezy field, a +wimpling brook, a quiet pond in woodland shade. A dozen rambles from May +to October will show us all the floral procession, which, beginning with +the trilliums and the violets, ends at the approach of frost with the +golden-rod and aster. But who ever formed an engaging acquaintance +without wishing it might become a close friendship? Never yet did the +observant culler of bloodroot and columbine rest satisfied with merely +knowing their names, and how can more be known unless flowers are set +up in a portrait gallery of their own for the leisurely study of their +lineaments and lineage? + +A word then as to the best way to gather wild flowers. A case for them +in the form of a round tube, closed at the ends, with a hinged cover, +can be made by a tinsmith at small cost. Its dimensions should be about +thirty inches in length by five inches in diameter, with a strap +attached to carry it by. At still less expense a frame can be made, or +bought, formed of two boards, one-eighth of an inch thick, twenty-four +inches long and eighteen inches broad, with two thin battens fastened +across them to prevent warping. A quire of soft brown paper, newspaper +will do, and a strap to hold all together, complete the outfit. + +Our gathered treasures at home, we may wish to deck a table or a mantel +with a few of them. The lives of impressed blossoms can be, much +prolonged by exercising a little care. Punch holes in a round of +cardboard and put the stalks through these holes before placing the +flowers in a vase. This prevents the stalks touching each other, and so +decaying before their time. A little charcoal in the water tends to keep +it pure; the water should be changed daily. + +A flower will fade at last be it tended ever so carefully. If we wish to +preserve it dried we can best do so as soon as we bring it home, by +placing it between sheets of absorbent paper (newspaper will do) well +weighted down, the paper to be renewed if the plants are succulent and +if there is any risk of mildew. But a dried plant after all is only a +mummy. Its colours are gone; its form bruised and crumpled, gives only a +faint suggestion of it as it lived and breathed. Other and more pleasant +reminders of our summer rambles can be ours. With a camera of fair size +it is easy to take pictures of flowers at their best; these pictures can +be coloured in their natural tints with happy effect. In this art Mrs. +Cornelius Van Brunt, of New York, has attained extraordinary success. +Or, instead of the camera, why not at first invoke the brush and +colour-box? Only a little skill in handling them is enough for a +beginning. Practice soon increases deftness in this art as in every +other, and in a few short weeks floral portraits are painted with a +truth to nature denied the unaided pencil. For what flower, however meek +and lowly, could ever tell its story in plain black and white? + +The amateur painter of flowers learns a good many things by the way; at +the very outset, that drawing accurate and clear must be the groundwork +of any painting worthy the name. Both in the use of pencil and brush +there must be a degree of painstaking observation, wholesome as a +discipline and delightful in its harvests. How many of us, unused to the +task of careful observation, can tell the number of the musk-mallow's +petals, or mark on paper the depth of fringe on a gentian, or match from +a series of dyed silks the hues of a common buttercup? Drawing and +painting sharpen the eye, and make the fingers its trained and ready +servants. From the very beginning of one's task in limning bud and +blossom, we see them richer in grace and loveliness than ever before. +When wild flowers are sketched as they grow it is often easy to give +them a new interest by adding the portraits of their insect servitors. +Amateurs who are so fortunate as to visit the West Indies have an +opportunity to paint the wonderful blossoms of the Marcgravia, whose +minister, a humming bird, quivers above it like a bit of rainbow +loosened from the sky. + +Early in the history of art the wild flowers lent their aid to +decoration. The acanthus which gave its leaves to crest the capital of +the Corinthian column, the roses conventionalized in the rich fabrics of +ancient Persia, until they have been thought sheer inventions of the +weaver, are among the first items of an indebtedness which has steadily +grown in volume until to-day, when the designers who find their +inspiration in the flowers are a vast and increasing host. In a modern +mansion of the best type the outer walls are enriched with the leonine +beauty of the sun-flower; within, the mosaic floors, the silk, and paper +hangings, repeat themes suggested by the vine, the wild clematis and the +Mayflower. The stained glass windows from New York, where their +manufacture excels that of any other city in the world, are exquisite +with boldly treated lilies, poppies, and columbines. In the +drawing-room are embroideries designed by two young women of Salem, +Massachusetts, who have established a thriving industry in transferring +the glow of wild flowers to the adornment of noble houses such as this. +As one goes from studio to studio, it is cheering to find so many men +and women busy at work which is more joyful than play,--which in many +cases first taken up as a recreation disclosed a vein of genuine talent +and so pointed to a career more delightful than any other,--because it +chimes in with the love of beauty and the power of giving it worthy +expression. + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Unable to verify "partnery" nor "tucu-tucu", but +they have been left as in the original. + +The word "sylvain" has been verified as a valid word, and therefore +it has been left as in the original. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Little Masterpieces of Science:, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE MASTERPIECES OF SCIENCE: *** + +***** This file should be named 29739.txt or 29739.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/7/3/29739/ + +Produced by Sigal Alon, Marcia Brooks, Fox in the Stars +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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