CREATION BY LAW. 283 



spangles of the emerald is no better in the battle of 

 life than a frill ending in spangles of the ruby. A tail 

 is not affected for the purposes of flight, whether its 

 marginal or its central feathers are decorated with 

 white. . . Mere beauty and mere variety, for their 

 own sake, are objects which we ourselves seek when 

 we can make the Forces of Nature subordinate to the 

 attainment of them. There seems to be no conceivable 

 reason why we should doubt or question, that these 

 are ends and aims also in the forms given to living 

 organisms" ("Reign of Law," p. 248). 



Here the statement that "no connection can be con- 

 ceived between the splendour of the humming birds 

 and any function essential to their life," is met by 

 the fact, that Mr. Darwin has not only conceived 

 but has shown, both by observation and reasoning, 

 how beauty of colour and form may have a direct 

 influence on the most important of all the functions 

 of life, that of reproduction. In the variations to 

 which birds are subject, any more brilliant colour 

 than usual would be attractive to the females, and 

 would lead to the individuals so adorned leaving more 

 than the average number of offspring. Experiment 

 and observation have shown, that this kind of sexual 

 selection does actually take place ; and the laws of 

 inheritance would necessarily lead to the further de- 

 velopment of any individual peculiarity that was at- 

 tractive, and thus the splendour of the humming birds 

 is directly connected with their very existence. It is 

 true that " a crest of topaz may be no better than a 



