244 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



" Intelligence is a conservative principle, and will always- 

 direct effort and use into lines which will be beneficial to its 

 possessor. Here we have the source of the fittest — i.e., ad- 

 dition of parts by increase and location of growth-force — 

 directed by the influence of various kinds of compulsion in 

 the lower and intelligent option among higher animals. 

 Thus intelligent choice, taking advantage of the successive 

 evolution of physical conditions, may be regarded as the 

 originator of the fittest, while natural selection is the tribunal 

 to which all results of accelerated growth are submitted. 

 This preserves or destroys them, and determines the new 

 points of departure on which accelerated growth shall 

 build." 



I think Professor Cope goes much too far in assuming that 

 the intelligence of animals always directs effort and use into 

 lines which are beneficial to its possessor ; for, if such were 

 the case, the intelligence of animals would surpass that of 

 mankind. A little reflection will, however, show that the 

 action of animal intelligence, even where the intelligence is of 

 a limited order, must necessarily largely influence the de- 

 velopment of the body, although such influence, instead of 

 being conscious choice, must be exercised unknown to the 

 animal itself. The animal uses its intelligence to supply its 

 daily wants, and in doing so it is brought within the sphere 

 of new physical surroundings, which modify its bodily struc- 

 ture. By way of illustration, let me point to the New Zea- 

 land kokako, or crow. Now, the blue- wattled crow is confined 

 to the North Island, while the orange- wattled crow is restricted 

 to the South. Ornithologists class these two crows as distinct 

 species. No naturalist would contend that these two members 

 of the crow family had been independently evolved in the 

 North and the South Island — obviously one of them is a 

 modification of the other. Impelled by lack of food or per- 

 haps other circumstances, the intelligence of the ancestors of 

 one of these crows led them to migrate from the North to the 

 South Island, or vice versd, and the change of climate and 

 diet, with possibly other alterations in the environment, led 

 to the production of a new species, or what we, for conve- 

 nience sake, call a new species. 



Individual animals, like human individuals, and races of 

 animals, like races of mankind, display marked peculiarities 

 of mental character ; and in dealing v/ith domesticated ani- 

 mals man has often taken advantage of these idiosyncracies, 

 and, in so doing, has modified the physical structure of various 

 animal breeds. Thus, breeds of hounds of fierce disposition 

 and prone to the chase, breeds of spaniels of affectionate 

 temper and ways, have been created ; while the collie, quick 

 and watchful, has been taught to tend flocks of sheep and 



