40 DARWINISM TO-DAY. 



mitted existence of indifferent species characters is well stated 



by Conn 12 as follows : "But how is it with char- 



Conn's state- 



ment of the ob- acters that have no utility? It is, of course, a 

 reat achievement to be able to point out the 



trivial charac- method by which adaptations have been pro- 

 duced, but if animals have some characters that 

 are not useful, natural selection does not explain them. 

 Natural selection can develop useful organs only. The real 

 problem which our naturalists are trying to solve is not the 

 origin of adaptations simply but the origin of species also. 

 Now while many of the characters and organs of animals 

 and plants are of utility to the individual there are others 

 that appear to be useless. As animals and plants are 

 studied, it is found that the different species differ from 

 each other by certain definite characters. These distinctive 

 peculiarities that distinguish species are called 'specific 

 characters,' and this term will be hereafter used in this 

 sense. The explanation of the origin of species must then 

 account for the origin of specific characters. Now specific 

 characters are frequently trivial in nature. This was long 

 ago recognised by Darwin, who saw that the characters by 

 which species are distinguished are frequently so trivial as to 

 be apparently useless. If, however, we are to explain the 

 origin of species we must find an explanation of these trivial 

 characters as well as the more important ones. If these 

 trivial characters are of no use to their possessors, then 

 manifestly the principle of the survival of the fittest does 

 not account for them. The fact that species are so com- 

 monly separated by characters that seem to be absolutely 

 useless has led some of our keenest naturalists to insist that 

 the survival of the fittest does not explain the origin of 

 species, but explains only the origin of adaptations. At all 

 events, it is clear that the problem of the utility of specific 

 characters is a very fundamental one to the discussion of the 

 principle of survival. 



