The Making of Species 



In each competition some candidates pass with 

 ease : they gain an unnecessarily high total of 

 marks. So in nature do certain organisms, as, 

 for example, the Leaf-butterflies (Kallimas), 

 appear to be over-adapted to their environment. 

 Other candidates manage to pass only by a very 

 narrow margin : these are paralleled in nature by 

 those species which are barely able to maintain 

 themselves, which become extinct the moment 

 the competition increases in severity. 



The great bulk of the candidates fail to obtain 

 sufficient marks to gain a place among the chosen 

 few ; these unsuccessful candidates correspond to 

 the mutating forms which perish in the struggle 

 for existence, to those individuals which happen 

 to have mutated in unfavourable directions. 



Even as many candidates have acquired know- 

 ledge of subjects in which they are not examined, 

 so do many organisms possess characteristics 

 which are of no utility to them in the struggle 

 for existence. 



Wallaceians expend much time and energy in 

 misguided attempts to explain the existence of 

 such characters in terms of natural selection. 



Nature's examination, like that held for en- 

 trance to the Indian Civil Service, is a liberal 

 one, so that the qualifications of the successful 

 candidates vary considerably. Provided a can- 

 didate is able to gain more marks than the other 

 candidates for a vacancy, it matters not in what 



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