Evolution: The Quest of Truth 171 



of " species.'* This is well attested by the 

 recent theories of De Vries; for the very 

 essence of his contention is that differences be- 

 tween organisms must be measured by their 

 qualities, not by their names. 



In the popular realm it is attested by the 

 great attention that we are giving to individual 

 animals as personalities rather than to species 

 and groups. We are asked to consider the 

 habits and history of one individual crow, for 

 example, and we may name him Silver Spot 

 rather than Corvus Americanus. The Bur- 

 roughs-Long controversy, aside from its inci- 

 dents and its disputes as to matters of fact, 

 raises the deeper question as to how far particu- 

 lar animals have strong individual traits that 

 are not common to the species as a whole. 



In fiction and narrative, this question ex- 

 presses itself in the making of an animal the 

 "hero" of the story, as in "Black Beauty" 

 and "The Call of the Wild." 



These latter modes represent the natural way 

 of knowing the out-of-doors. This is the way 

 that the boy and the hunter know it. The 



