90 How Theories are Manufactured 



stamp out any development of colour which in this way 

 was objectionable and would thus affect colour negatively. 

 The question is, whence comes the positive tendency 

 towards coloration so abundantly manifested? To say 

 that it is the result of "selective preference," on the 

 part of other individuals, is to say nothing, till that 

 preference be itself explained; for it needs explana- 

 tion as much as the colour which it evokes. And 

 what is true of colour is true of all other kinds of 

 ornament. 



In fact, in order to work their plan with any show of 

 effectiveness, the writers of whom I speak have to beg 

 the whole question. They are by way of demonstrating 

 the truth of the Darwinian theory, and as a first step 

 they assume its indisputable truth. This done, they 

 proceed in a particular case to excogitate another theory 

 as to how on Darwinian principles the organism couid 

 have come to its present form. This product of their 

 fancy they set down as fact, and from this fact they 

 invite us to confirm our faith in the great " illuminating " 

 doctrine. That this is a fair account of the method of 

 procedure no one will, I think, deny who has taken the 

 trouble to sift the matter for himself; but to establish 

 my assertion, I will take an example. What is true of 

 colour in birds is true of it in flowers ; the only differ- 

 ence being that the case of plants, the selective agency 

 invoked is that of animals, benefiting those which please 

 their eye, and thus aiding them in the struggle for ex- 

 istence. Sometimes it is insects which visit by prefer- 

 ence a blossom of brighter hue, and so help to fertilize 

 it : sometimes it is birds which, attracted by a con- 

 spicuous berry, help to disseminate its seeds. Amongst 

 other plants with a conspicuous fruit is the Arum or 

 Cuckoo-pint, known also as Lords and Ladies, a common 

 and very noticeable growth along hedgerows in spring, 

 which in autumn produces a bunch of brilliant red 

 berries, like the rest of the plant deadly poison. The 

 history of this plant's economy is cheerfully told by 

 Mr. Grant Allen. "The Robins and small Rodents 



