300 NATURAL SCIENCE. may. 



in getting instances of the natural occurrence of such " para-species" 

 born of different parents, it will go far towards establishing the 

 point. 



Mr. Galton's third request is for " instances in which any of these 

 peculiarly characterised individuals have transmitted their peculiari- 

 ties, hereditarily, to one or more generations," and he asks special 

 attention to be directed to the degree of intensity with which the 

 peculiarity has been transmitted, to the occurrence of any dilution of 

 the peculiarity when transmitted, or to the absence of its trans- 

 mission. The point of the last inquiry is clear enough. If positions 

 of organic stability are real things, frequently enough they should be 

 transmitted as readily and as fully as that position of organic stability 

 known as the normal species. 



A Burlesque Explanation. 



Many things have been written about Natural Selection that will 

 last not even our own day ; but a Mr. S. E. Peal seems to us to have 

 reached a climax of illusory ingenuity. We regret that Mr. Alfred R. 

 Wallace has laid himself open to the enemy by formally supporting 

 Mr. Peal in Nature. It seems that certain tan-spots occur over the eyes 

 of semi-domesticated dogs. These do not exist in wild animals allied to 

 the dog, or in the modern breeds of fully-domesticated dogs. The spots 

 are most conspicuous when the eyes are closed, appearing then like 

 opened eyes. The ingenious suggestion is that they i( may have been 

 protective to the animals during sleep, causing them to look as if awake. 

 The reason that they do not occur in wild dogs may be that the latter 

 conceal themselves when sleeping, which the half-domesticated 

 animals were not able to do." 



To Mr. Wallace, whose words these are, we must point out 

 with the greatest deference that animals in a state of semi- 

 domestication would hardly need so special a method of protection. 

 No doubt the ways of the young savage might not be agreeable to the 

 dog, and it would be to the advantage of the dog to appear wide- 

 awake ; but even the young savage would sleep sometimes, and 

 probably the semi- domesticated dog might snatch enough sleep 

 o'nights to maintain his existence. But it is not against the parti- 

 cular case, but against the general application of " Natural Selec- 

 tion " to individual features that we wish to protest. To argue about 

 this individual feature we should have to know all about the dog and 

 his structure and habits. With what other changes are these parti- 

 cular spots associated ? The mere proposition of the question is 

 enough to dispel at once any idea of accepting Mr. Peal's suggestion. 

 For each individual feature a dozen ingenious theories might be 

 formed ; but one and all the theories must be illusory in the absence 

 of any knowledge as to the correlations that exist in the bodies of the 

 organisms in question. 



