CH. XI.] TfVO OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 43 



Prof. Huxley says, "it is iudeed a conceivable (?) suppo- 

 sition that every species of rhinoceros and every species of 

 hysena, in the long succession of forms between the Mio- 

 cene and the present species, was separately constructed out 

 of duot, or out of nothing, by supernatural power ; but until 

 I receive distinct evidence of the fact, I refuse to run ihe 

 risk of insulting any sane nian by supposing that he seri- 

 ously holds such a notion." 



It thus appears that the argument from " missing links," 

 which to the general reader may appear so obviously fatal 

 to the Darwinian theory, is to the student of palaeontology 

 by no means alarming. Our brief survey of the facts in the 

 case has shown us first, that transitional varieties are always 

 likely to have been less numerous in individuals than the 

 well-defined species which they serve to connect ; secondly, 

 that the geologic eras which have left in the rocks the record 

 of their organic life have been usually the eras in which 

 variation and extinction have been least rapid, and in which 

 accordingly transitional varieties have been least numerous ; 

 and thirdly, that in spite of all these adverse circumstances, 

 transitional forms have already been discovered in consider- 

 able numbers, while it is fair to expect that many more 

 will be discovered when by and by we have come to know 

 the earth's surface more intimately. 



Of all the objections which have been urged against the 

 theory of natural selection, this objection, from the paucity 

 of transitional forms, is the least weighty, though probably 

 the most obvious. The second objection which we have to 

 consider, though less immediately obvious, is more weighty ; 

 and though there is no reason for regarding it as insuper- 

 able, we must admit that it has not yet been entirely dis- 

 posed o£ This objection is implicated with the difference 



perhaps near the point of departure of the anthropoid apes from the lowei 

 monkeys and lemurs. See the anatomical evidence very well piesented in 

 Sir. Mivart't recent work on Man and Apes. 



