66 J. W. SLATER, ESQ., F.C.S., F.E.S., ON 



defending itself against any enemy, if the month were made 

 to open not at the front of the head. This, of course, would 

 be especially the case in fishes which do not possess any limbs 

 capable of assisting the mouth. Yet such is the position of 

 the mouth in the shark which, by the way, ranks among the 

 most ancient fishes. 



Now can the mouth have conceivably been brought into 

 its present position by Natural Selection ? This peculiarity 

 of the mouth, and every step by which it can have been 

 reached, must be and has been a constant disadvantage to 

 the shark. By it he often loses an expected prey, as many a 

 diver and many a sailor who has fallen overboard can testify. 

 Any shark which should have its mouth in the normal 

 position would have the advantage over its rivals in the 

 struggle for existence. Surely, then, we may safely conclude 

 that the peculiar position of the shark's mouth has been 

 reached and is now maintained not in virtue of, but rather in 

 defiance, of Natural Selection. 



From the above considerations, and from many more which 

 might be brought forward if time permitted, we may, I 

 submit, venture to conclude that Natural Selection or the 

 struggle for existence is by no means the prime agent in 

 genesis of species. That it may have a subordinate and 

 limited efficacy I am not prepared to deny. 



The more we reflect on the subject the more shall we 

 become convinced that the origin of species is a far more 

 difficult and complicated question than it may seem on skim- 

 ming the writings of Darwin and Wallace, or indulging in 

 the whipped cream of their popular expounders. 



We have certainly no proof that Natural Selection is at 

 present multiplying species, or that in existing species it is 

 leading to any higher development. Often, indeed, it seems 

 to work rather in the opposite direction. 



That it seems to furnish in many cases a happy explana- 

 tion we must admit. But in others it leaves us so completely 

 in the lurch that it must be supplemented if not over-ruled 

 by some higher agency. 



We must also remember that supposing all the above 

 mentioned difficulties explained away, and the objections set 

 aside. Natural Selection furnishes merely a final cause for 

 the properties of animals and plants. But science is in 

 general more concerned with the efficient causes. Natural 

 Selection may tell us that the colours of an animal approxi- 

 mate to the colours of the objects by which it is surrounded ; 



