130 HOPKINS: EVOLUTION 



of evolution, both in a restricted and broad application to organic 

 and inorganic nature. In other words, we find the story revealed 

 by existing evidences and facts rather than by those of the past. 



The dominant elements of structure and habit which serve to 

 distinguish the individual beetle from all other forms are signifi- 

 cant. In a review of the morphological evidence, we find that 

 in addition to the fundamental cellular structure common to all 

 forms of life, it is distinguished from the protozoans by characters 

 common to the metazoans, from the vertebrates by characters com- 

 mon to the invertebrates, from other invertebrates by characters 

 common to anthropods, from the other anthropods by charac- 

 ters common to the hexapods, from other hexapods by characters 

 common to the Coleoptera, from other Coleoptera by characters com- 

 mon to the Rhynchophora, and so on, down to the characters 

 of the family, genus, and species, and finally, to those peculiar to 

 the individual. But this is only an outline of the chapters and 

 volumes of the story of evolution as revealed by the morphological 

 elements alone. The story is continued and verified in the physio- 

 logical evidence revealed by the characteristic activities com- 

 mon to the various groups it represents, such as those found in the 

 methods and processes of acquirement, ingestion, digestion, and 

 assimilation of food, the processes of development and reproduc- 

 tion, the struggle for existence, and finally the influences of hered- 

 ity and environment on the character of the individual, the species, 

 and the race. 



Thus, the individual in its ontogeny and its morphological and 

 physiological elements, reveals a long interesting story — a story 

 with many complex and poorly defined features which are subject 

 to a wide range of interpretation and theories as to the funda- 

 mental and minor features of the processes of evolution. 



The more plausible theories that have been advanced are not 

 entirely satisfactory because in the final analysis there is so much 

 that is yet to be explained. As applied to biology, the principle of 

 natural selection is the most satisfactory but natural selection is 

 only one of the many and complex factors in the process of evo- 

 lution as applied, in its broadest sense, to matter and conscious- 

 ness. 



