CREATION BY LAW. 253 



not how small the difference may be from the 

 parent Form ; if that difference be constant, and 

 if it be associated with some difference equally 

 constant in the female Form, it becomes at once a 

 new Species. There are some cases mentioned by 

 Mr Gould which may possibly be examples of the 

 first founding of a new Species. In the beauti- 

 ful genus Cynanthus, he tells us that there are 

 some local varieties near Bogota, in which the 

 ornament is partially changing from blue to green ; 

 and it is a curious fact that this variation ap- 

 pears to be taking effect under the direction of 

 some definite rule or " law," — inasmuch as it is 

 only the eight central feathers of the tail which 

 are tipped with the new colour. Mr Gould ex- 

 pressly says of one such variety from Ecuador, 

 that it possesses characters so distinctive as to 

 entitle it, in his opinion, to the rank of a separate 

 Species. The very discussion of such a question 

 shows the possibility of new births being the means 

 of introducing new Species. But my object here 

 is simply to point out that Mr Darwin's theory 

 offers no explanation of such births, either as 

 respects their origin or their preservation, neither 



