Miscellaneous. 3i7 



Mr. Durwins Theory of Development. By J. O. Westwood. 



The observation relative to the Swedish Turnip to vi^hich I alluded 

 in my note on this subject occurs in page 997 of last year's 'Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle,' and is to the effect that the discussion at the 

 Central Farmers' Club, on Monday, 5th December, turned upon 

 the need of finding a substitute for that vegetable, which was rapidly 

 deteriorating in the hands of the farmer in spite of the best efforts 

 both of agriculturists and scientific men. With reference to Mr. 

 Darwin's note on this subject (^unte, p. 49), I apprehend, in the 

 absence of details, that this is not a question as to the permanence 

 of a cross-bred production, but one of reversion, in which it is found 

 impossible to maintain the status of a species which has been en- 

 nobled (to use a term which has lately been adopted for these modi- 

 fied high-bred specimens, and which we may expect to see applied 

 with equal propriety to the fat pigs exhibited at Christmas which 

 can neither see nor walk). These latter, like the Swedish Turnips, 

 have been brought by man out of their natural condition ; they are, 

 in fact, monsters, and Nature will get rid of them and revert to the 

 old true type of the species. Of varieties of distinct species pro- 

 duced in a state of nature, even when carried beyond individual 

 variations (which have been termed sub-species or geographical 

 varieties), I believe also that Nature constantly endeavours to get 

 rid of them in the same manner, although a persistence of the pre- 

 disposing causes may, even for a long time, render the variety appa- 

 rently permanent. I cited the case of the Ibis as an instance show- 

 ing that a species has remained permanent during the whole historic 

 period ; and I think that we are thereby authorized in supposing 

 that if that bird were reduced to the condition of a single pair (as 

 its first creation), the progeny of that pair would in 3000 more years 

 be as true to the character of the species as the present individuals 

 are. As to the hive-bee, I intended to allude more especially to the 

 case where a single hive might become the founder of an extensive 

 apiary far removed from any other, the different hives being of 

 course tenanted by the progeny of the first stock. Extensive bee- 

 keepers do not find it necessary to import hives from a distance to 

 keep up their establishments ; and thus the species would keep true, 

 immaterial whether the queens paired with their own subjects or 

 with those of adjacent hives, all having descended from the same 

 single stock-hive. The Egyptian records furnish us with another 

 instance which we find to be in complete opposition to Mr. Darwin's 

 theory. We there see the African ostrich, one of the most extreme 

 types of the class of birds, faithfully represented. According to 

 Mr. Darwin's theory, it is mainly for the welfare both of the spe- 

 cies and individual that modifications take place and new forms are 

 developed. Now, there can be no doubt that it would have been 

 beneficial to this bird, both specifically and individually, if its coveted 

 plumes could have been shortened and its wings lengthened, so as 

 the better to escape from its pursuers. Moreover, as every one who 

 saw the tame ostriches in the circus at Kensington during the Great 

 Exhibition of 1851 will recollect, when driven to their fullest speed 



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