PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 13 



Wallace considers these ineffective to secure the fittest for the 

 struggle of life, inasmuch as many possessing them are not 

 necessarily the most healthy and vigorous, and that the selection 

 must be restricted to the direct result of male struggle and 

 combat. He shewed there cannot possibly be female selection in 

 the case of merit, as not one out of a hundred of their eggs 

 produces a perfect insect and lives to breed. Our Treasurer 

 supports Doctor Wallace's view on this subject. An extract from 

 a letter written by him in 1869 is reproduced in "Darwinism," 

 upon which Dr. Wallace makes the following remark : " This 

 passage gives the independent views of a close observer, one, 

 moreover, who has studied the species of an extensive group 

 of animals, both in the field and in the laboratory, and very nearly 

 accords with my own conclusions above given, and so far as the 

 matured opinions of a competent naturalist have any weight, affords 

 them an important support." His remarks upon the sexual 

 coloration of insects are equally fascinating, and he points out that 

 from an animal point of view geology reveals to us the conditions 

 of an earlier and a better state of things than prevails at present. 

 I share the author's belief in the spiritual nature of man, and I 

 rise from the study of " Darwinism " with the assurance that this 

 spiritual nature is derived from the Spirit of God, which confers 

 the possession of an eternally living Soul. 



It seems to me the Darwin theory does not clearly define the 

 influence it assigns to natural selection in its relation to coloration 

 and instinct. It grants that new varieties of animals and plants 

 can be produced without the aid of natural selection, and in the 

 case of instinct it must have been coeval with primordial life or 

 derivative. Later on there is no reason to doubt instincts have been 

 acquired. With regard to coloration it is remarkable that Alpine 

 plants where insect life is very sparse are more intensely brilliant 

 and varied in colours than in the genial plains below with their 

 myriads of insects. The coloration of Alpine plants cannot be 

 employed as a means of attracting insects for the purpose of crosa- 

 fertilization. . They are . for the. .most part propagated by self- 



