VIEWS OF ERASMUS DARWIN 219 
4. Contests of the males for the possession of the 
females, or law of battle. Under the head of desire he 
dwells on the desire of the male for the exclusive pos- 
session of the female; and “these have acquired weap- 
ons to combat each other for this purpose,” as the very 
thick, shield-like horny skin on the shoulders of the 
boar, and his tusks, the horns of the stag, the spurs of 
cocks and quails. ‘The final cause,” he says, “ of 
this contest among the males seems to be that the 
strongest and most active animal should propagate 
the species, which should thence become improved ”’ 
(p. 238). This savors so strongly of sexual selection 
that we wonder very much that Charles Darwin re- 
pudiated it as “erroneous.” It is not mentioned by 
Lamarck, nor is Dr. Darwin’s statement of the exer- 
tions and desires of animals at all similar to Lamarck’s, 
who could not have borrowed his ideas on appetency 
from Darwin or any other predecessor. 
5. The transmission of characters acquired during 
the lifetime of the parent. This is suggested in the 
following crude way : 
‘ Thirdly, when we enumerate the great changes 
produced in the species of animals before their ma- 
turity, as, for example, when the offspring reproduces 
the effects produced upon the parent by accident or 
cultivation; or the changes produced by the mixture of 
species, as in mules; or the changes produced probably 
by the exuberance of nourishment supplied to the fe- 
tus, as in monstrous births with additional limbs, many 
of these enormities of shape are propagated and con- 
tinued asa variety, at least, if not as a new species of 
animal. I have seen a breed of cats with an additional 
claw on every foot; of poultry also with an additional 
