specific Characters ISI on-adaptive 341 



for existence. They are favored by nature by being allowed 

 to furnish the next generation. The result is the separation 

 from a mixed population of the relatively few individuals 

 who are, all things considered, most fit under the circum- 

 stances. This is all there is to natural selection. This princi- 

 ple is so simple, it appeals so strongly to common sense, that 

 for a long time it could not be questioned. People could 

 doubt whether improvements had taken place in an evolu- 

 tionary sense. People could say that the whole thing was 

 impossible because God would not be so cruel as to make 

 millions of plants and animals in order to destroy them for the 

 sake of a few favored survivors. But the common sense 

 of the argument remained. At any rate, the opposite is 

 inconceivable. 



Specific Characters Non-adaptive 



Some naturalists brought up one objection to the theory 

 which did not have much weight with the general public 

 since it was largely technical. The taxonomists pointed out 

 that the marks which distinguish one species from a different 

 but closely related species are usually not of a kind that can 

 have any conceivable value in a struggle for existence. There 

 were slight differences in coloration or pattern, in the dis- 

 tribution of hairs, in the shape of one or another organ. 

 These marks were fairly constant, and convenient for those 

 engaged in classifying, but hardly of a life-and-death signifi- 

 cance. Natural selection might account for the preservation 

 and for the improvement of adaptations. It could hardly 

 account for the differentiation of species through the de- 

 velopment of characters that have no particular value to the 

 organisms. Darwin was keenly aware of these facts, but 

 he explained the seeming irrelevancy of the specific marks 

 by assuming that variations in an organism are not confined 

 to the trait which the observer discovers. What we see is 

 correlated with obscure but important characters. It is con- 

 ceivable, for example, that the increased hairiness of a part 



