On the Genesis of Species | Page 3

Wings of Butterflies of Celebes compared with those of
allied species elsewhere ... 86
Great Shielded Grasshopper ... 89
The Six-shafted Bird of Paradise ... 90

The Long-tailed Bird of Paradise ... 91
The Red Bird of Paradise ... 92
Horned Flies ... 93
The Magnificent Bird of Paradise ... 93
(The above seven figures are from Mr. A. Wallace's "Malay
Archipelago")
Much enlarged horizontal Section of the Tooth of a Labyrinthodon
(from Professor Owen's "Odontography") ... 104
Hand of the Potto (from life) ... 105
Skeleton of Plesiosaurus ... 106, 133
The Aye-Aye (from Trans, of Zool. Soc.) ... 108
Dentition of Sabre-toothed Tiger (from Professor Owen's
"Odontography") ... 110
Trilobite ... 135, 171
Inner side of Lower Jaw of Pleurodont Lizard (from Professor Owen's
"Odontography") ... 148
Solenodon (from Berlin Trans.) ... 149
Tarsal Bones of Galago and Cheirogaleus (from Proc. Zool. Soc.) ...
159
Squilla ... 160
Parts of the Skeleton of the Lobster ... 161 [Page xv]
Spine of Galago Allenii (from Proc. Zool. Soc.) ... 162

Vertebrae of Axolotl (from Proc. Zool. Soc.) ... 165
Annelid undergoing spontaneous fission ... 169, 211
Aard-Vark (Orycteropus capensis) ... 174
Pangolin (Manis) ... 175
Skeleton of Manus and Pes of a Tailed Batrachian (from Professor
Gegenbaur's "Tarsus and Carpus") ... 178
Flexor Muscles of Hand of Nycticetus (from Proc. Zool. Soc.) ... 180
The Fibres of Corti ... 279
{1} * * * * *
THE GENESIS OF SPECIES.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
The problem of the genesis of species stated.--Nature of its probable
solution.--Importance of the question.--Position here
defended.--Statement of the DARWINIAN THEORY.--Its applicability
to details of geographical distribution; to rudimentary structures; to
homology; to mimicry, &c.--Consequent utility of the theory.--Its wide
acceptance.--Reasons for this, other than, and in addition to, its
scientific value.--Its simplicity.--Its bearing on religious
questions.--Odium theologicum and odium antitheologicum.--The
antagonism supposed by many to exist between it and theology neither
necessary nor universal.--Christian authorities in favour of
evolution.--Mr. Darwin's "Animals and Plants under
Domestication."--Difficulties of the Darwinian theory enumerated.
The great problem which has so long exercised the minds of naturalists,
namely, that concerning the origin of different kinds of animals and

plants, seems at last to be fairly on the road to receive--perhaps at no
very distant future--as satisfactory a solution as it can well have.
But the problem presents peculiar difficulties. The birth of a "species"
has often been compared with that of an "individual." The origin,
however, of even an individual animal or plant (that which determines
an embryo to evolve itself,--as, e.g., a spider rather than a beetle, a
rose-plant {2} rather than a pear) is shrouded in obscurity. A fortiori
must this be the case with the origin of a "species."
Moreover, the analogy between a "species" and an "individual" is a
very incomplete one. The word "individual" denotes a concrete whole
with a real, separate, and distinct existence. The word "species," on the
other hand, denotes a peculiar congeries of characters, innate powers
and qualities, and a certain nature realized indeed in individuals, but
having no separate existence, except ideally as a thought in some mind.
Thus the birth of a "species" can only be compared metaphorically, and
very imperfectly, with that of an "individual."
Individuals as individuals, actually and directly produce and bring forth
other individuals; but no "congeries of characters" no "common nature"
as such, can directly bring forth another "common nature," because, per
se, it has no existence (other than ideal) apart from the individuals in
which it is manifested.
The problem then is, "by what combination of natural laws does a new
'common nature' appear upon the scene of realized existence?" i.e. how
is an individual embodying such new characters produced?
For the approximation we have of late made towards the solution of
this problem, we are mainly indebted to the invaluable labours and
active brains of Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace.
Nevertheless, important as has been the impulse and direction given by
those writers to both our observations and speculations, the solution
will not (if the views here advocated are correct) ultimately present that
aspect and character with which it has issued from the hands of those

writers.
Neither, most certainly, will that solution agree in appearance or
substance with the more or less crude conceptions which have been put
forth by most of the opponents of Messrs. Darwin and Wallace. [Page
3]
Rather, judging from the more recent manifestations of thought on
opposite sides, we may expect the development of some tertium
quid--the resultant of forces coming from different quarters, and not
coinciding in direction with any one of them.
As error is almost always partial truth, and so consists in the
exaggeration or distortion of one verity by the suppression of another
which qualifies and modifies the former, we may hope, by the synthesis
of