Essays on Life 



until it was rendered harmless and rudimen- 

 tary [italics mine]." l 



So that just as an undefined amount of use 

 and disuse was introduced on the earlier page 

 to supplement the effects of natural selection 

 in respect of the wings of beetles on small and 

 exposed islands, we have here an undefined 

 amount of natural selection introduced to 

 supplement the effects of use and disuse in 

 respect of the identical phenomena. In the 

 one passage we find that natural selection has 

 been the main agent in reducing the wings, 

 though use and disuse have had an appreciable 

 share in the result ; in the other, it is use and 

 disuse that have been the main agents, though 

 an appreciable share in the result must be 

 ascribed to natural selection. 



Besides, who has seen the uncles and aunts 

 going away with the uniformity that is neces- 

 sary for Mr. Darwin's contention ? We know 

 that birds and insects do often get blown out 

 to sea and perish, but in order to establish 

 Mr. Darwin's position we want the evidence 

 of those who watched the reduction of the 



1 " Origin of Species/' sixth edition,, 1888, vol. ii. p. 261. 

 268 



