5i8 THE WONDER OF LIFE 



Finally, in thinking over this difficult problem of adapta- 

 tions, we must remember the importance of the active 

 organism itself. As Professor James Ward has well pointed 

 out, it may swk ont and even in part make its environment ; 

 it is not onlv sekw-t*d, it selects ; it acts as well as reacts. 

 And although tk* details and finesse of this may have been 

 elaborated ID ibfc course of selection, the primary poten- 

 tial itv of ;? i *ri essential part of the secret of that kind 

 of aeuviiv \vfma we call Life. 



IUustr*tta* of Adaptations. The structure of a long 



I,*,?, .i.. > ! S; <Mtifal is adapted to give the utmost firmness 



*r<!uin expenditure of material; the unique 



<*. aft the hind legs of worker-bees is adapted 



*' *~ft* the pollen ; the colours and patterns on the 



.ramiMqi a imrfl 

 nv/oid no rrno^ nwoid sril ,fl 



peacock 



1 1 ed to ca i n imal 



is adapted for the prolonged pre-natal life of the young ; 

 the so-called ' egg-tooth ' at the end of a young bird's bill 

 is adapted to the single operation of breaking the egg-shell 

 and so on throughout the whole of the animate world. It 

 is indeed a mistake to dwell upon signal instances of adapta,- 

 tions, since (apart from degenerative changes in old age. 

 morbid processes, perverted instincts, rudimentary or 

 vestigial structures, and certain 'indifferent' chara-- 

 which are not known to have any vital significance) almost 

 every detail of struct- '^tion may be n 



adapt - 



The Mole. In illustration of ada 

 u -. <' ..fi animal . 



