NATURAL SELECTION. 
149 
individuals of one and the same species remain mostly very 
similar." 
PURUIVAL OF THE FITTEST. 
Every one is aware that favorite breeds of cattle, many 
beautiful flowers, particular kinds of horses, such as the 
dray-horse, race-horse, etc., are not found in a wild state, 
us examine the means by which this end has been accom- 
but that these forms have been gradually producec 
en 
plished. Suppose, for example, a gardener wishes so to 
modify some particular white flower that in time it will ex- 
ات 
hibit a striking scarlet color. He looks carefully among the 
particular flowers until he finds one which offers a trace of 
red; he plants the seeds of this flower, and from their pos- 
terity he selects the reddest flowers. Continuing to select 
the reddest flowers, and planting their seeds alone, finally the 
gardener succeeds in obtaining one of a scarlet color. The 
success of the gardener's operation depends upon the fact 
ofthere appearing, among the flowers which are usually 
white, one exhibiting a faint red color, and upon the fact 
of posterity inheriting from their parents a variation which 
they transmit in turn to their offspring, this variation be- 
coming more marked as it is transmitted from generation to 
generation. An equally good illustration of this principle 
is the often-quoted instance of Seth Wright, the Massachu- 
setts farmer, who, noticing that one of his rams, with a long 
body and short bandy legs, could not jump over the fences, 
concluded that it would be a good thing to breed with this 
iram alone, and to his great satisfaction soon obtained a race 
of sheep characterized by the peculiarity of a long body 
and short bandy legs. Indeed, although the subject of 
inheritance is still theoretically obscure, practically it is so 
well understood that Sir John Sebright “can produce in 
three years a given feather, but that he requires six years in 
order to obtain a particular kind of head and beak. 
وہ 
Now we 
