ON CLASSIFICATION. 17 



On the other hand, if the two fishes really belong 

 to different species, we will generally be able to find 

 several points of difference ; in fact the more carefully 

 we study them the greater number of distinctions 

 will be found. 



Between two varieties there is an apparent difference, 

 but no real distinction. 



Between two species there may be a strong 

 apparent similarity, but there is a real divergence 

 in numerous respects of which we can usually dis- 

 cover more than one, at any rate, b\ careful scru- 

 tiny. 



It must not be imagined that, because some species 

 are variable, therefore a species as such has no de- 

 finite existence. True, the species of to-clay may 

 be different from what they will be a thousand 

 or a million years hence ; some may have become ex- 

 tinct, others may have given birth to many new 

 species, all varying from the original, but at any one 

 time such species as exist are actual and clearly 

 defined entities. In this they may be compared to 

 the words in a language, derived from remote roots, 

 constantly varying in the course of ages, yet each 

 separate and distinct at any given time from all other 

 words. In the same way as with species, words may 

 appear similar and yet be widely different, or they 

 may seem very distinct in outward appearance and 

 yet be radically the same in point of fact. 



This argument, it may be observed, does not imply 

 the acceptance of the Doctrine of Evolution. It 



c 



