Permanence and Evolution. 99 



but the fact that in the one case they soon 

 disappear, in the other they remain till death, 

 shows that they depend on somewhat different 

 conditions ; and we must know much more 

 than we now know (for we now know nothing) 

 about what these conditions are, before we can 

 say whether it would be easier for natural 

 selection, or any other modifying cause, to evolve 

 a striped feline from a lion with stripes on its 

 young, than from some similar creature with 

 no stripes at any time. 



It has been said that evolution offers the 

 only or best explanation of the deep-seated 

 and pervading affinities between organised 

 beings on which a natural system is based. 

 It is said that birth from one stock is the 

 only known cause of resemblance between living 

 beings, and that affinity by blood is what is 

 really, though unconsciously, sought for by 

 all who have attempted to construct a natural 

 system. In the first place, there seems to be 



