IV Pit EF ACE. 



by me before I had the least notion of the scope and 

 nature of Mr. Darwin's labours. They were published 

 in a way not likely to attract the attention of any but 

 working naturalists, and I feel sure that many who 

 have heard of them, have never had the opportunity 

 of ascertaining how much or how little they really con- 

 tain. It therefore happens, that, while some writers 

 give me more credit than I deserve, others may very 

 naturally class me with Dr. Wells and Mr. Patrick 

 Matthew, who, as Mr. Darwin has shown in the his- 

 torical sketch given in the 4th and 5th Editions of 

 the " Origin of Species," certainly propounded the 

 fundamental principle of " natural selection " before 

 himself, but who made no further use of that principle, 

 and failed to see its wide and immensely important 

 applications. 



The present work will, I venture to think, prove, 

 that I both saw at the time the value and scope of 

 the law which I had discovered, and have since been 

 able to apply it to some purpose in a few original 

 lines of investigation. But here my claims cease. 

 I have felt all my life, and I still feel, the most 

 sincere satisfaction that Mr. Darwin had been at 

 work lon before me, and that it was not left for me 



tD 7 



to attempt to write " The Origin of Species." I have 

 long since measured my own strength, and know well 

 that it would be quite unequal to that task. Far 

 abler men than myself may confess, that they have 

 not that untiring patience in accumulating, and that 

 wonderful skill in using, large masses of facts of the 



