1897] ORIGIN OF SPECIES AMONG PLANTS 179 
general rule: first, to migration and isolation from the parent type, 
with as much freedom from the struggle for existence as possible ; 
secondly, to self-adaptation by the inherent power of response in 
living protoplasm, excited by the physical influences of the new 
environment. The result is for the most part new structures in 
harmony with the new environment. If there be a _ thousand 
seedlings of one and the same plant which germinate and grow 
together, they will all put on, more or less, the same features under 
the same definite action of the same surroundings ; though individual 
differences will still be found among them as before. 
Conclusion.—Lastly, the answer to the question which heads 
this paper is that natural selection plays no part in originating new 
varieties, nor is it required as “means” or an aid in the origin of 
species ; but is all-sufficient in the distribution of plants. 
Now the above conclusion is practically admitted by Dr 
Wallace himself, in the following sentence :—‘“ Should they [fixed 
varieties of plants] be found to occur more frequently in other 
_ countries [%.e., ‘ Representative plants,’ which are indeed innumer- 
able] as varieties of birds, mammals, and reptiles, &c., occur in 
separate areas in North America — they may be usually 
explained as adaptations to very different climatic condi- 
tions, in which case the distinguishing characters will be 
utilitarian [or otherwise] and the local varieties will be really 
incipient species.” The passage I have spaced represents pre- 
cisely the views expressed in this paper. Darwin, too, admits the 
possibility of the origin of species without the aid of natural selec- 
tion. His words are as follows :—‘“ By the term definite action, I 
mean an action of such a nature that, when many individuals of 
the same variety are exposed during several generations to any 
change in their physical conditions of life, all, or nearly all the 
individuals are modified in the same manner. A new sub-variety 
would thus be produced without the aid of natural selection.” 1 
Lastly, this was the conclusion of Mr Herbert Spencer, in 1852, 
seven years before Darwin and Dr Wallace superadded natural 
selection as an aid in the origin of species. He saw no necessity 
for anything beyond the natural power of change with adaptation ; 
and I venture now to add my own testimony, based upon upwards 
of a quarter of a century’s observations and experiments, which 
have convinced me that Mr Spencer was right and Darwin was 
wrong. His words are as follows:—“The supporters of the 
development hypothesis can show .. . that any existing species, 
animal or vegetable, when placed under conditions different from 
its previous ones, immediately begins to undergo certain changes of 
structure fitting it for the new conditions . .. that in the 
1 * Animals and Plants under Domestication,” vol. ii., p. 271. 
