96 Remarks on the Theories of PT. n. 



fixed laws of nature, which are opposed to them. 

 To begin with his first motive power the Struggle 

 for Existence there seems to be no evidence to 

 show that this struggle for existence leads to any 

 transmutation or fundamental alteration of species ; 

 the primary effect of an insufficiency of food is to 

 cause the diminution or extinction of the race, but 

 it is not obvious how it can supply the place of in- 

 vention, and transform the animal into one better 

 adapted to new conditions. All the existing world 

 of animated nature seems to be divided by hard and 

 fast lines into different groups, which admit of no 

 amalgamation ; everywhere carnivorous and herba^. 

 ceous animals birds and quadrupeds, inhabitants of 

 the land and of the ocean, all the countless varieties, 

 races and species seem to be divided by impassable 

 lines of demarcation. Mr. Darwin himself quotes 

 numerous instances ; he speaks of the humble bee 

 and other bees so nearly allied in structure and yet 

 never mingling together or losing their distinctive 

 characteristics. The great law of sexual connection 

 seems to be that like seeks like, and the whole of 

 Mr. Darwin's theory of Sexual Selection seems to be 

 founded upon the hypothesis that this law is fre- 

 quently broken or transgressed. But we cannot 



