7? 
xlvi 
alia, peculiar differences in the venation of the wings, corre- 
sponding among species ailied in other respects, but having no 
functional advantage in the conservation of the race according 
to the modification theory; such characteristic exponents, in this 
and other orders, symbolizing the members of each kindred 
association with remarkable precision, and serving, coincidently 
with other indications, to determine their otherwise natural 
alliances. Nor can it be averred that the relative expansion of 
wing or velocity of flight offer any solution of these diversities in 
the alary system; for the Tenthredinide, with their dilated 
wings and complex venation, are among the most sluggish of these 
races; while the Oxyuri, the Chrysidide, and some of the 
Fossores, less amply endowed in these respects, are eminently 
prone to energy and vivacity. 
Dr. Miller, however, eventually demolishes his own super- 
structure, of progressive acquirements as a reliable principle of 
continuous advance to ‘‘more and more complex life-relations, 
accompanied by a. higher and higher mental organization,” by 
finally expressing his “‘ opinion that the various proceedings by 
which the solitary wasps thus protect their young against con- 
tingencies to which the insect-piercing species are liable, must 
have at first been arrived at with a consciousness of the object to 
be effected, but that they have gradually become instinctive, and 
are now unconsciously inherited from generation to generation.” 
Thus the ‘increased energy, intelligence, and adaptability, 
which he adduces in the first instance as the ‘‘ basis” of such 
advances made with a conscious object, have gradually lapsed 
into a retrograde stage of degenerate unconsciousness of purpose, 
merging into the more familiar phases of hereditary habit; 
although, as he subjoins, “it is impossible to watch a wasp at 
work without feeling that, with these inherited customs, or so- 
called instinct, much individual effort also comes into play.” 
We have yet to wait for his ulterior comments on the instincts 
of the honey-bee, which, by a parity of reasoning, must be con- 
sidered to emanate from conscious intellectual antecedents, since 
degraded to unconscious inheritance. 
Meanwhile another athlete, Dr. Anton Dohrn, has sprung up 
to contest the palm in a new arena, having published a pamphlet* 
wherein he maintains the principle of universal degradation and 
* «Unsprung der Werbelthiere und Princip des Functionswechsels.’ 
9 
