352 THE VARIATION OF ANIMALS IN NATURE 



situation, or to the totality of situations which constitute its 

 environment, only in so far as we can imagine an assemblage 

 of slightly different situations or environments, to which the 

 animal would on the whole be less well adapted, and equally 

 only in so far as we can imagine an assemblage of slightly 

 different organic forms, which would be less well adapted to 

 that environment. This I take to be the meaning which the 

 word is intended to convey. . . . This definition is in agree- 

 ment with the view (p. 41), . . . which was regarded as obvious 

 by the older naturalists, and I believe by all who have studied 

 wild animals, that organisms in general are, in fact, marvel- 

 lously and intricately adapted, both in their internal mechan- 

 isms and in their relations to external nature.' There are 

 certainly some field naturalists who find it difficult to believe 

 in the existence of the close degree of adaptation here assumed. 

 It is doubtful how far the problem of adaptation can be 

 studied by means of chance observations of naturalists, 

 however talented, since the data obtained in this way can 

 rarely be quantitative. Further criticisms will be found on 



P- 355- 



Organismal Adaptation. — There remains a fourth con- 

 ception of adaptation, which may be called the organismal. 1 

 The property of living animals which it stresses is their 

 individuality, the result of a complex organisation which is 

 maintained in spite of the environment. The adaptations 

 which are so often held up for admiration and so pleasantly 

 satisfy the human craving for a good story might equally well 

 be regarded as set-backs in evolutionary progress. They show 

 us where the organism has been forced to submit to an environ- 

 ment that had become too strong for it. To return for a moment 

 to the oligolectic bees, it can be maintained that when the bee 

 alters its flight period to coincide with the flowering of its 

 pollen-supplier, it is taking the line of least resistance. We 

 may contrast its behaviour with that of some of the ants who 

 cultivate their own crops and are, therefore, independent of 

 the seasons. The oligolectic habit might have great temporary 

 advantages, but it also has great dangers, because it increases 

 the direct dependence of the organism on an environment 



1 References to works on this aspect of adaptation may be found in Bertalanffy's 

 recently published 'Modern Theories of Development' (1933. Transl. J. 

 Woodger) . 



