12 THE WHENCE AND THE WHITHER OF MAN 



conditions, or, to use Mr. Darwin's words, " conformed 

 to their environment." 



Now if any iadividual has varied so as to possess 

 some peculiarity which enables it even in slight de- 

 gree to better escape its enemies or to resist unfavor- 

 able conditions, those of its descendants who inherit 

 most markedly this peculiar quality or variation will 

 be the most likely to escape, those without it to perish. 

 If a form varies unfavorably, becomes for instance 

 more conspicuous to its enemies, it will almost certainly 

 perish. Thus favorable variations tend to increase and 

 become more marked from generation to generation. 



Now it has always been known that breeders could 

 produce a race of markedly peculiar form or character- 

 istics by selecting the individuals possessing this qual- 

 ity in the highest degree and breeding only from these. 

 The breeder depends upon heredity, variation, and his 

 selection of the iadividuals from which to breed. Sim- 

 ilarly in nature new species have arisen through hered- 

 ity, variation, and a selection according to the laws of 

 nature of those varying in conformity with their en- 

 vironment. And this Mr. Darwin called natural, in 

 contrast with the breeder's artificial, " selection," aris- 

 ing from the "struggle for existence," and resulting 

 in what Mr. Spencer has called the " survival of the 

 fittest." 



Let us take a single illustration. Many of the species 

 of beetles on oceanic islands have very rudimentary 

 wings, or none at all, and yet their nearest relatives are 

 winged forms on some neighboring continent. Mr. 

 Darwin would explain the origin of these evidently 

 distinct wingless species as follows : They are de- 

 scended from winged ancestors blown or otherwise 



