VIEWS OF ERASMUS DARWIN 



219 



4. Contests of the males for the possession of the 

 females, or law of battle. Under the head of desire he 

 dwells on the desire of the male for the exclusive pos- 

 session of the female ; and "these have acquired weap- 

 ons to combat each other for this purpose," as the very 

 thick, shield-like horny skin on the shoulders of the 

 boar, and his tusks, the horns of the stag, the spurs of 

 cocks and quails. " The final cause," he says, " of 

 this contest among the males seems to be that the 

 strongest and most active animal should propagate 

 the species, which should thence become improved " 

 (p. 238). This savors so strongly of sexual selection 

 that we wonder very much that Charles Darwin re- 

 pudiated it as " erroneous." It is not mentioned by 

 Lamarck, nor is Dr. Darwin's statement of the exer- 

 tions and desires of animals at all similar to Lamarck's, 

 who could not have borrowed his ideas on appetency 

 from Darwin or any other predecessor. 



5. The transmission of characters acquired during 

 the lifetime of the parent. This is suggested in the 

 following crude way : 



" Thirdly, when we enumerate the great changes 

 produced in the species of animals before their ma- 

 turity, as, for example, when the offspring reproduces 

 the effects produced upon the parent by accident or 

 cultivation ; or the changes produced by the mixture of 

 species, as in mules ; or the changes produced probably 

 by the exuberance of nourishment supplied to the fe- 

 tus, as in monstrous births with additional Hmbs, many 

 of these enormities of shape are propagated and con- 

 tinued as a variety, at least, if not as a new species of 

 animal. I have seen a breed of cats with an additional 

 claw on every foot ; of poultry also with an additional 



