ELIMINATION AND SELECTION. 



281 



whole nests of bees — these are examples of wholesale 

 destruction, not of the elimination of the unfit. 



Let us now turn to cases of selection, propeiiy so called, 

 where Nature is in some way working at the other end of 

 the scale ; whore her method is not the elimination of the 

 unfit, but the selection of tlie fit. Such a case may be 

 found on Darwin's principles in brightly-coloured flowers 

 and fruits. "Flowers," he says, " rank amongst the most 

 beautiful productions of nature ; but they have been 

 rendered conspicuous in contrast with the green leaves, and, 

 in consequence, at the same time beautiful, so that tliey 

 may be easily observed by insects. I have come to this 

 conclusion from finding it an invariable rule, that when a 

 flower is fertilized by the wind, it never has a gaily coloured 

 corolla. Several plants habitually produce two kinds of 

 flowers; one kind open and coloured, so as to attract insects; 

 the other closed, not coloured, destitute of nectar, and never 

 visited by insects. Hence we may conclude that, if insects 

 had not been developed on the face of the earth, our plants 

 would not have been decked with beautiful flowers, but 

 would have produced only such })oor flowers as we see on 

 our fir, oak, nut, and ash trees, on grasses, spinach, docks, 

 and nettles, which are all fertilized through tlio agency 

 of the wind. A similar lino of argument holds good with 

 fruits; that a ripe strawberry or cherry is as pleasing to 

 the eye as to the palate,— that the gaily coloured fruit of 

 the spindle-wood tree, and the scarlet berries of the holly, 

 are beautiful objects,— will be admitted by every one. But 

 this beauty serves merely as a guide to birds and beasts, in 

 order that the fruit may be devoured and manured seeds 

 disseminated : I infer that this is the case from Iiaving as 

 yet found, no exception to the rule, that seeds are always 

 thus disseminated when embedded within a fruit of any 



