338 LESSONS FKOM NATUKE. [CHAP. XI. 



&quot; Finally, Mr. Darwin recognises that he was formerly 

 inclined to lay too much stress on the principle of protec 

 tion, as accounting for the less bright colours of female 

 birds, and speaks now as if what he at one time favoured in 

 this respect was quite an unlikely matter, saying : 



&quot; Is it probable that the head of the female chaffinch, the crimson on 

 the breast of the female bullfinch, the green of the female chaffinch, the 

 crest of the female golden-crested wren, have all been rendered less 

 bright by the slow process of selection for the sake of protection ? / 

 cannot think so. 



&quot; I also cannot think so, nor can I so think with regard to 

 those numerous instances brought forward in my book as 

 examples of characters for the origin and development of 

 which Natural Selection will not, I believe, account. 



&quot; Deference ought doubtless to be shown to a naturalist 

 such as Mr. Darwin, but deference has its limits and must 

 not be exercised to the sacrifice of truth, and truth compels 

 the recognition of the important modifications above noticed. 

 It is not only, however, critics that dissent from Mr. Darwin s 

 views who recognise the existence of these changes. Mr. 

 Darwin s authorized interpreter, Professor Huxley, has lately 

 told us the highly significant fact that Mr. Darwin is even 

 inclined to reply in the affirmative to the question whether 

 a variety can be perpetuated, or even intensified, when 

 selective conditions are indifferent, or perhaps unfavourable 

 to its existence. A more complete repudiation in principle 

 of the origin of species by Natural Selection it would be 

 difficult if not impossible to imagine. 



&quot; Mr. Darwin has not, however, so far as I know, explicitly 

 declared what Professor Huxley tells us he is inclined to 

 admit. He has certainly made many important and sig 

 nificant admissions, but there is one more which consistency 

 seems to demand as the logical outcome of others above 

 cited : I mean the admission that the attribution to Natural 

 Selection of the main determining office in the fixation of 

 specific characters has also been a serious error, whether it 

 be not rather a fortunate than an unfortunate one. 



