185 



erick L. Lew ton, September 4, 1894, and preserved in the her- 

 barium of the New York Botanical Garden is to be referred to 

 Asplenium auritum Sw., a rather variable West Indian and Middle 

 American species, not reported hitherto from the United States. 

 The sheet in question is not of the typical Jamaican form, but is 

 identical with Porto Rican material represented by Sintenis, No. 

 4616, which does not, however, seem specifically distinct. 



William R. Maxon. 

 Washington, D. C. 



REVIEWS 



Evolution and Adaptation 



The reader in search of evidence corroborative of the origin of 

 species by natural selection, or by direct adaptation will find but 

 little comfort in Professor Morgan's recent book on evolution 

 and adaptation.* 



This author concludes that " Animals and plants are not 

 changed in this or that part in order to become better adjusted to 

 a given environment, as the Darwinian theory postulates." He 

 holds that natural selection is not the moulding force that directs 

 the development, or the origin of new forms, since among other 

 proofs he points out that many have organs that are much less 

 perfect than necessary, or more perfect than required by existence 

 in a given environment. 



Although new species are supposed to arise by the cumulation 

 of minute fluctuating variations, according to the theory of natural 

 selection, yet it is recalled that artificial selection, taking advan- 

 tage of such variations, has never resulted in the formation of a 

 new species although this method has been skilfully and rigidly 

 applied for long periods of time. It is likewise pointed out that 

 actual indisputable proof that any acquired character is capable 

 of being inherited has not yet been brought forward. This is a 

 phase of the subject comparatively easy of proof if true, and 

 Professor Morgan is certainly justified in holding that mere asser- 



* Morgan, T. H. Evolution and Adaptation. Svo. pp. xiii -(- 470. f. i-j. 

 1903. The Macmillan Company, New York. 



