THEOR 7 OF NA TUBAL SELECTION, o j i 



continued, which exactly corresponds with wlmi I luive 

 called unconscious selection by man, combined, no doubt, 

 in a most important manner with the inherited elTects of 

 the increased use of parts, it seems to me almost certain 

 that an ordinary hoofed quadruped might be converted 

 into a giraffe. 



To this conclusion Mr. ^[ivart brings forward two ob- 

 jections, One is that the increased size of the body woultl 

 obviously require an increased supply of food, and lie con- 

 siders it as '' very problematical wiiether the disadvantages 

 thence arising would not, in times of scarcity, more than 

 counterbalance the advantages." But as tlie giraffe does 

 actually exist in large numbers in Africa, and as some of the 

 largest antelopes in the world, taller than aji ox, abound 

 there, why should we doubt that, as far as size is concerned, 

 intermediate gradations could formerly have existed there, 

 subjected as now to severe dearths. Assuredly the being 

 able to reach, at each stage of increased size, to a supply 

 of food, left untouched by the other hoofed quadrupeds of 

 the country, would have been of some advantage to the 

 nascent giraffe. Nor must we overlook the fact, that in- 

 creased bulk wonld act as a protection against almost all 

 beasts of prey excepting the lion; and against this animal, 

 its tall neck — and the. taller the better — would, as Mr. 

 Chauncey Wright has remarked, serve as a watch-tower. 

 It is from this cause, as Sir S. Baker remarks, that no 

 animal is more difficult to stalk than the giraffe. This 

 animal also uses its long neck as a means of offence or de- 

 fence, by violently swinging its head armed with stump- 

 like horns. The preservation of each species can rarely be 

 determined by any one advantage, but by the union of all, 

 great and small. 



Mr. Mivart then asks (and this is his second objection), 

 if natural selection be so potent, and if high browsing be 

 so great an advantage, why has not any other hoofed quad- 

 ruped acquired a long neck and lofty stature, besides the 

 giraffe, and, in a lesser degree, the camel, guanaco and 

 macrauchenia? Or, again, why has not any member of 

 the group acquired a long proboscis? With respect to 

 South Africa, which was formerly inhabited by numerous 

 herds of the giraffe, the answer is not difficult, and can 

 best be given by an illustration. In every meadow in 



