vi THE WORLD OF LIFE 



In Chapter IX. I deal with some little-known pheno- 

 mena in that hitherto neglected field of enquiry which I 

 have termed " Recognition Marks." Besides the obvious 

 uses implied by their name, I have shown that they are of 

 great importance — perhaps absolutely essential — in the pro- 

 cess of the evolution of new species. During the enquiry 

 I have arrived at the somewhat startling conclusion that the 

 exquisite variety and beauty of insect-coloration and mark- 

 ing have not been developed through their own visual per- 

 ceptions, but mainly — perhaps even exclusively — through 

 those of higher animals. I show that brilliant butterflies do 

 not, and almost certainly cannot, recognise each other by 

 colour, and that they probably do not even perceive colour 

 at all except as to a certain extent presenting visual 

 differences. 



But besides the discussion of these and several other 

 allied subjects, the most prominent feature of my book is 

 that I enter into a popular yet critical examination of those 

 underlying fundamental problems which Darwin purposely 

 excluded from his works as being beyond the scope of his 

 enquiry. Such are, the nature and causes of Life itself ; and 

 more especially of its most fundamental and mysterious 

 powers — growth and reproduction. 



I first endeavour to show (in Chapter XIV.) by a care- 

 ful consideration of the structure of the bird's feather ; of 

 the marvellous transformations of the higher insects ; and, 

 more especially of the highly elaborated wing-scales of the 

 Lepidoptera (as easily accessible examples of what is going 

 on in every part of the structure of every living thing), the 

 absolute necessity for an organising and directive Life- 

 Principle in order to account for the very possibility of these 

 complex outgrowths. I argue, that they necessarily imply 

 first, a Creative Power, which so constituted matter as to 

 render these marvels possible ; next, a directive Mind 



