104 NATURAL SCIENCE [August 
lutely alike, in consequence of their ‘individual differences’; and 
these supply material for natural selection to act upon. 
(3) That when a being migrates into a new environment, this 
somehow induces variations to arise in the offspring, which then, it 
is supposed, vary ‘indefinitely, 7@.¢, in all sorts of directions; but 
only those best suited to the new surroundings live, all the rest 
die, Professor Huxley described this process of natural selection 
of the fittest to survive, as a system of ‘ trial and error.’ 
(4) That the rule is that plants of which there is a numerous 
population are best suited for giving rise to new varieties when 
some geological catastrophe alters the conditions of their existence, 
2.¢., Without migration. 
(5) So that those individual plants which possess new varia- 
tions of structure which render them the best fitted to survive, will 
do so under those new conditions of existence. 
Now the statement No, 1 can be abundantly and easily proved 
to be true. No. 2 is also quite true.. No, 3 is not true so far as 
varying ‘indefinitely’ is concerned. This was an @ priori assump- 
tion, which has never been verified, no facts having ever been brought 
forward to sustain it. No. 4 is also unsupported by any facts ; on 
the contrary, gregarious plants as a rule supply no varieties. No. 5 
is a reasonable deduction or & priori assumption, had there been any 
facts to start with. This not being the case the assumption falls to 
the ground. 
On the other hand, observations and experiments prove that all 
variations which arise in plants are the result directly or indirectly 
of responses or adaptations to external influences. Such are always 
‘ definite, to use Darwin’s expression, in every case; and whenever 
this is so, as he himself admits, “a new variety would arise without 
the aid of Natural Selection.” Instead of this being the exception 
and indefinite variations the rule, as he supposed, the truth is, that 
definite variation is a natural law admitting of no exceptions at all. 
Indefinite variations in nature were a pure assumption. 
Where, then, is there any opportunity for natural selection to 
act 2? It is the universal process in the struggle for life in nature. 
A neglected lawn, now existing, affords the writer an excellent object 
lesson. Daisies hold their own over large areas where about four 
years ago there were none; but among them are sharply defined 
places in which Poa annua or other grasses utterly refuse admis- 
sion to anything else. Another district is invaded by Alchemilla 
arvensis ; yet another consists of large plants of dwarf Dutch clover, 
while Achillea millefolium, with its insidiously creeping stem, con- 
stitutes a compact carpet; so does Galiwm verum in many places,' 
1JTn a lawn made on the side of a heath Galiwm savatile formed the ‘turf’ to an 
almost entire exclusion of everything else. 
