The Three Barriers. 177 



This is too much for M. Flourens. " Surely," 

 says that accomplished naturalist, "we cannot 

 take this as meant to be serious. Natural Se- 

 lection choosing an instinct ! 



' ... La poe'sie a ses licences, mais 

 Celle-ci passe un peu les bornes que j'y mets.' n l 



Mr. Darwin, however, is serious enough, and 

 maintains in all good faith, that peculiar in- 

 stincts are in all cases the result not of original 

 endowment, but of subsequent acquisition ; " by 

 the slow and gradual accumulation of numerous 

 slight, yet profitable variations." 2 Individual 

 life, as well as the life of the community, whether 

 in ants or bees, was once a totally different thing 

 from what we now behold ; then beavers did not 

 build, and neither the stork nor the swallow 

 knew their appointed seasons. 



Il treating of the ants and the honey-bee, 

 Mr. Darwin attempts to account for that striking 

 peculiarity the groundwork of much of their 

 polity the existence of neuters. 



" Thus, I believe" he says, " it has been with social 

 insects ; a slight modification of structure or instinct, 



1 "Examen du Livre de M. Darwin sur L'Origine 

 des Especes." Par P. Flourens. (Paris, 1864.) P. 55. 

 Vide infrd: Appendix, Note C. 



2 " Origin of Species," p. 230. 



