-6 7 - 



vation must therefore dwarf the reproductive organs of very young in- 

 dividuals, in proportion to those which are very important, or absolutely 

 necessary to life. In plants this fact is constantly shown all around us 

 and our maize is a striking example. 



The reproductive powers of swine are very great. But a young pig 

 that is half-starved will not only have its reproductive powers very much 

 retarded in their growth, it will have them diminished in their ulti- 

 mate strength. This is a matter in which general observation fur- 

 nishes the proof. I have not asked fish-culturists the question but I am 

 absolutely certain that other things being equal, the number of fish-eggs 

 will depend upon the size and thrift of the individual, and these, other 

 things being equal depend upon the question of food. 



It is easy to imagine a possible case among the vertebrates or even 

 the mammals in which a perfectly normal organism by long continued 

 insufficiency of food, is allowed a slow development of those organs that 

 are absolutely necessary for its life, and of the others most nearly corre- 

 lated to these, while the organs of reproduction, in the incipient or un- 

 developed stage in which they were when starvation commenced, still 

 remain till they become fixed and immutable notwithstanding any a- 

 bundance of food that may he given at a later period of life. 



Let us now go back to the variability of eggs as shown by our hun- 

 dred chicks or the variability of seeds as shown by our ears of corn. 

 This variability is variability of the germs, and this is congenital variabil- 

 ity. This variability as shown in the hundred chicks gives us from three 

 to six pounds for their adult weight and they all differ in color, form, or 

 both. 



We take no account at present of the fact that our primitive bee as 

 shown by her offspring of to-day was far more variable than fowls, but we 

 note that she was a hoarding insect, gathering with great care and in- 

 dustry in good times, food for times of scarcity; that she supplied her 

 young from her stores; and that they responded to her maternal cares 

 with filial affection. 



We left her at a time when the struggle for existence was keen and 

 some of her offspring starved through no fault of her own. She was ex- 

 hausted with a constant search for food and the cares of a numerous and 

 starving family. 



This necessarily involved the fact that her reproductive system was 

 quite out of balance, she was incapable of producing as many eggs as 

 her progenitors, and many of those that she did produce were imperfect. 



Of these imperfect eggs some addled and some hatched out imper- 

 fect offspring. 



