152 CHARLES DARWIN. 



omitted, while " almost " is inserted before " like a 

 whale." He was alluding to this passage when he 

 wrote to Lyell (December 22nd, 1859): "Thanks 

 about * Bears,' a word of ill-omen to me." Further- 

 more, Andrew Murray^ says, concerning the sen- 

 tences as they stand in the first edition : — 



"In quoting this, I do not at all mean to give it as a fair 

 illustration of Mr. Darwin's views. I only refer to it as 

 indicating the extent to which he is prepared to go. The 

 example here given I look upon (as I have reason to know 

 that Mr. Darwin himself does) merely as an extreme and 

 somewhat extravagant illustration, imagined expressly to show 

 in a forcible way how 'natural selection' would operate 

 in making a mouth bigger and bigger, because more 

 advantageous." 



* Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., Jan. 16th, 1860. 



