The Making of Species 



not only functionless but absolutely injurious, as 

 in the case of the comb and wattles of the jungle 

 cock and his domestic descendants, which merely 

 serve as a handle for enemies to seize. 



Cunningham asserts that the only objection to 

 his theory is the dogma that acquired characters 

 cannot be inherited. This assertion is, however, 

 not correct. It is, indeed, a very serious objection 

 that all the evidence available seems to show that 

 acquired characters are not inherited, but this is 

 by no means the only difficulty. 



Before mentioning these further objections, let 

 us say a word on the subject of the inheritance 

 of acquired characters. Mr Cunningham himself 

 compares the formation of a splint or spavin 

 in a horse as the result of special strain, to 

 the acquisition of secondary sexual characters. 

 Unfortunately for Cunningham's theory, but 

 fortunately for mankind in general, spavined 

 horses and mares do not beget spavined off- 

 spring. If, then, spavin is not inherited, is it 

 not unreasonable to assert that the thickening 

 of the bone that develops on the head of a 

 butting animal is inherited? 



Another objection to Cunningham's theory is 

 that many birds which show off their plumage 

 most vigorously possess no ornamental plumes. 

 As Howard has recorded, many of our dull- 

 coloured British warblers show off in the same 

 manner as bright-coloured birds do. If the 



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