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  PROCEEDINGS 
  OF 
  TUE 
  MALACOLOGICAL 
  SOCIETT. 
  

  

  it 
  is 
  essentially 
  mechanistic 
  in 
  character, 
  and 
  fails 
  to 
  take 
  into 
  

   account 
  the 
  demonstrated 
  capacity 
  of 
  living 
  organisms 
  to 
  achieve 
  

   their 
  ends 
  by 
  self-regulated 
  means. 
  We 
  should 
  not, 
  in 
  other 
  words, 
  

   be 
  too 
  quick 
  to 
  assume 
  that 
  an 
  aculeata 
  is 
  at 
  any 
  very 
  grave 
  dis- 
  

   advantage 
  in 
  maintaining 
  its 
  individuality 
  and 
  reproducing 
  its 
  kind 
  

   because 
  it 
  has 
  no 
  penis 
  ; 
  the 
  majority, 
  at 
  any 
  rate, 
  of 
  lamellata 
  have 
  

   abandoned 
  that 
  organ 
  in 
  favour 
  of 
  the 
  roominess 
  afforded 
  by 
  its 
  

   absence, 
  and 
  reduced 
  their 
  genitalia 
  to 
  the 
  simplest 
  essentials. 
  

  

  