4 PREFACE. 



8. The fact of variation, and the frequency of in- 

 tergradient forms. 



9. The observed behavior of animals and plants 

 under the hand of man. 



The reader who desires more explicit information 

 upon the means of producing new varieties may con- 

 sult "Plant-Breeding," in which some of the more ob- 

 vious speculations which are concerned with the breed- 

 ing of plants are set forth in some detail. Histori- 

 cal narratives of our indigenous cultivated fruits will 

 be found in "The Evolution of our Native Fruits." 



L. H. BAILEY. 



COBNELIj Univkbsity, 

 Ithaca, N. Y., September 1, 1896. 



Note to the Second Issue. 

 In this issue, a few minor alterations have been 

 made, and a fuller statement is given to the conclud- 

 ing paragraph of the first Essay. The author takes 

 this occasion to say — what, it would seem, is per- 

 fectly obvious — that in his denial of design, he uses 

 the word design in its biological significance, and that 

 he has no reference to the larger question of pur- 

 posiveness in the creation. He refers to the notion 

 of immediate or proximate interference in shaping 

 the forms of life. The larger question of purposive 

 design is one which can be neither denied nor af- 

 firmed from biological evidence; but the author would 

 argue that the entire evolution scheme is a nobler 

 conception of purposive creation than any mere in- 

 terjection of special forces into a discontinuous, and, 

 therefore, in a meaningless, creation. 



November 17, 1896. 



