xliv INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



their present characteristics is proved to a demonstration ; for in 

 various parts of the Madeiran Group there are thick beds of indurated 

 mud and calcareous sand, which literally teem with them in a semi- 

 fossilized state, and yet (except in a few cases, involving mere size, 

 on which I shall have soon to comment) the latter specimens (dis- 

 tributed over upwards of one hundred species) display no perceptible 

 differences from their recent homologues. Geologically speaking, 

 these deposits (which occur in Madeira proper, Porto Santo, and even 

 on the top of the southern Deserta) may perhaps be comparatively 

 recent ; but as there is strong reason for suspecting that they were 

 formed (at any ratej previous to the dissolution of the intermediate 

 land, and since it is the opinion of Sir Charles Lyell that these 

 oceanic Groups were islands in a miocene sea, we have at least a 

 monstrous period during which we may be quite sure that no ap- 

 preciable change has taken place. And since moreover it is equally 

 a fact that the semifossilized forms of the several species are found 

 only in the immediate vicinity of the areas (often very limited ones) 

 which are occupied by their descendants, we possess likewise con- 

 clusive evidence concerning the sedentary modes of life which would 

 seem to have formed at that distant epoch as much a part of their 

 history as they do now*. I have alluded to the shells, simply be- 

 cause the particular phenomena, in connexion with them, to which I 

 would call attention are capable of actual proof; but, as already 

 implied, I believe that the majority of the Coleoptera which arc 

 truly endemic will be found to be in an exactly similar predica- 

 ment. Hence I infer that the " insular phases " which we are now 

 discussing have not been matured in accordance with any law of 

 development, or an imaginary process of " natural selection," f but 



* Cf. 'Variation of Species,' pp. 127-135. 



t It has always seemed to me that " Natural Selection," so-called (if indeed it 

 has ever more than an occasional, or intermittent, existence in the feral world), 

 is, on the whole, conservative, rather than progressive ; for being emphatically 

 and confessedly utilitarian, or dependent on the principle that the strongest 

 shall prevail, it is clear that the question "which is the strongest?" must be 

 solved before we can form an opinion on its supposed action. It is but asserting 

 a truism to say that sound and vigorous health, with proper room for the exer- 

 cise of its various endowments and faculties, are a sine qua non to the perfection 

 of every species, and that we may consequently expect the race which possesses 

 those advantages to be not only the most perfect, but likewise, in a general sense, 

 the most successful. For I think there cannot be much doubt that the speci- 

 mens which have all their organs developed, simultaneously, to the utmost are 

 the really strong ones, and not those which have one (or more) of them increased 

 at the expense of the remainder. I will not deny that creatures in the latter 

 predicament may enjoy some temporary advantage against (perhaps) a particular 

 foe, and may even transmit it to their immediate descendants ; but still that 

 does not prevent the structure itself (if important enough to be worth notice) 





