ORGANIC EVOLUTION 39 



same way as are the observed mutant characters of 

 domesticated forms. While this identity in tlie 

 method of inheritance may not })e a conclusive argu- 

 ment in itself in showing that in both cases the dif- 

 ferences have arisen by the same process, still the 

 probability is so strong that it would be short-sighted 

 to reject it, when the alternative assertion that the 

 differences in the wild form have had a different 

 origin, has nothing to support it. These questions 

 will come up again for further consideration, but 

 enough has been said to show that the discoveiy of 

 the way in which new characters appear and are in- 

 herited marks a distinct advance in our study of 

 the evolutionary process. 



