104 TIIKORIKS OF KVOLUTION 



On the first he sat still, and kept using his bill, 



That the head in his chicks might prevail : 

 Ere he hatched the next young, head downwards he slung 



From the branches, to lengthen his tail. 

 Conceive how he watched till his chickens were hatched, 



With what joy he observed that each brood 

 Were unlike at the start, had their dwellings apart, 



And distinct adaptations for food. 



• ••«••••• 



From the bill, in brief words, were developed the Birds, 



Unless our lame pigeons and ducks lie ; 

 From I he tail and hind legs, in the second-laid eggs, 



The Apes and — Professor Iluxlcy. 



If \vc now lurn to the skits on evolution written at the 

 present day we fnid they are very different. Miss May 

 Kendall, in writing her Ballad of tJic Ichl/iyosaunis, only 

 a few years ago [1887], says : — 



E'er Man was developed, our brother, 

 We swam and we ducked and we dived, 



And we dined, as a rule, on each other — 

 What matter, the toughest survived. 



This is true Natural Selection. The authoress luider- 

 stood what she was talking about. But, strangely enough, 

 what might well be looked upon as the most incisive 

 parody of Natural Selection was pu]')lished more than ten 

 years too early ! The first part of James Russell Lowell's 

 Jh\<^lcnv Papers appeared between 1846 and 1848. One 

 of the earlier poems contains the following lines : — 



Some flossifrrs think ihct a fakkilly's granted 



Tlie mini)it it's proved to be thoroughly wanted, 

 Thet a diange (j' demand makes a change o' condition, 



An' thet evcrythin' 's nolhin' except by position ; 

 Ez, fer instance, thet rubbcr-lrecs fust begun bearin' 



Wen j)'liiikle conshunccs come into wcarin', — 

 Thet the fears of a monkey, whose holt chanced to fail, 



Drawcd the vcrlibry out to a j)rchensile tail. 



If these amusing verses had been written later they 

 would certainly have been accepted as a satire upon the 

 orio^iji as opposed to the survival of the fittest. As it is, 

 we must believe that they were indirectly inspired ])y the 

 Lamarckian idea of change wrought b)- the desires of 

 animals. The publication in 1844 of the Vcsli^cs of the 



