Correspondence on Biology, etc. 



it. They seem to tliink that, given a stable variation, Natural 

 Selection must hide its diminished head I 



Bateson's preface, concluding reflections, etc., are often 

 quite amusing. ... He is so cocksure he has made a great 

 discovery — which is the most palpable of mare's nests. — 

 Yours very truly, Alfred R. Wallace. 



P.S. — I allude of course to his grand argument — " en- 

 vironment contin uoiis — species discontinuous — therefore 

 variations which produce species must be also discon- 

 tinuous '^ ! (Bateson — q.e.d.). 



To Prof. Poi:lton 



Parkstone, Dorset. February 19, 1895. 



My dear Poulton, — I have read your paper on ** Theories 

 of Evolution " ^ with great pleasure. It is very clear and 

 very forcible, and I should think must have opened the eyes 

 of some of your hearers. Your cases against Lamarckism 

 were very strong, and I think quite conclusive. There is 

 one, however, which seems to me weak — that about the claws 

 of lobsters and the tails of lizards moving and acting when 

 detached from the body. It may be argued, fairly, that this 

 is only an incidental result of the extreme muscular irrita- 

 bility and contractibility of the organs, which might have 

 been caused on Lamarckian as well as on the Darwinian 

 hypothesis. The running of a fowl after its head is chopped 

 off is an example of the same kind of thing, and this is 

 certainly not useful. The detachment itself of claw and 

 tail is no doubt useful and adaptive. 



When discussing the objection as to failures not being 

 found fossil, there are two additional arguments to those 

 you adduce : (1) Every failure has been, first, a success, or 

 it could not have come into existence (as a species) ; and (2) 



* Reprinted in " Essays on Evolution," p. 95. 1908. 

 61 



