Rationing According to Sex 



Ammophila fed on caterpillars, just as man 

 fed on rice is the same as man fed on wheat. 

 In vain I pass my lens over the product of 

 my art: I cannot distinguish it from the na- 

 tural product; and I defy the most meticu- 

 lous entomologist to perceive any difference 

 between the two. It is the same with my 

 other boarders who have had their diet al- 

 tered. 



I see the objection coming. The differ- 

 ences may be inappreciable, for my experi- 

 ments touch only a first rung of the ladder. 

 What would happen if the ladder were pro- 

 longed, if the offspring of the Ammophila 

 fed on Spiders were given the same food 

 generation after generation? These differ- 

 ences, at first imperceptible, might become 

 accentuated until they grew into distinct spe- 

 cific characters; the habits and Instincts might 

 also change; and In the end the caterpillar- 

 huntress might become a Spider-huntress, 

 with a shape of her own. ( A species would 

 be created, for, among the factors at work 

 in the transformation of animals, the most 

 Important of all is incontestably the type of 

 food, the nature of the thing wherewith the 

 animal builds Itself. All this is much more 

 important than the trivialities which Darwin 

 relies upon."^ 



J 233 



J 



