184 SYMBIOSIS 



without " exces de specialisation portant sur les organes essentiels 

 a la vie." 



This, however, is not, as he thinks, a statement of cause, but 

 one of facts only, without any explanation of the facts whatsoever. 

 I have shown in my Evolution by Co-ope/ation that in many 

 cases the differences of size are quite obviously connected with 

 differences of diet, and I have there also traced pronounced 

 sexual dimorphism to one and the same source, namely the 

 parasitic diathesis (p. 78) . Dr. Larger concedes that the way of life 

 may have contributed to the success of the punier races. They are, 

 he says, generally omnivorous, or feed upon animals and plants 

 which exist in all seasons, wherefore, he thinks, they are well 

 adapted to the changes of climate [i.e., they are tolerably cross- 

 feeders and many entirely so]. Besides, he continues, many 

 bury themselves during the unfavourable season and manage to 

 keep their nutrition suspended during hibernation [i.e., they 

 practise moderation, thus achieving regeneration and rejuven- 

 escence matters altogether under-estimated by Dr. Larger]. 

 He further suggests that if they do not counter-evolve (degenerate) 

 this is because they did not in the first place evolve either, which 

 is evidently special pleading. Finally, he adduces his supposed 

 strongest reason : as these types do not show any " stigmate de 

 Degenerescence," it must be that they have preserved intact 

 their reproductive function which, again, I demur, is no explana- 

 tion, but only a surmise of facts. But the author eventually 

 finds a way out of the difficulty by dismissing the argument 

 altogether : 



or la petitesse de la taille est un fait qui n'explique absolument rien. 

 He is on safer ground when he tells us : 



le Gigantisme se rencontre, en effet, chez tous, quels qu'ils soient : 

 Vertebres ou Invertebres, depuis le Gorille jusqu' aux Foramini feres. Sa 

 Constance a la fin de presque toutes les especes, tous les genres, families, 

 classes et embranchements, est meme telle, que le Gigantisme des animaux 

 actuels et fossiles est devenu incontestablement la question capitale de 

 la Paleopathologie generate comparee et, partant, dans la recherche des 

 causes de 1'Extinction des groupes quels qu'ils soient. 



All flesh is apt to pervert its way. 



As regards, once more, the cause of " Degenerescence," in 

 trying to be more explicit than at first, when he referred to 

 " maladie quelconque," the author tells us that : 



ce qui est incontestable, c'est qu'elle designe une maladie constitution- 

 elle, c'est-a-dire generate, dont la cause intime est encore indeterminee, 



