ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL SELECTION 45 



delicacy. In consequence of this, the bird is being 

 destroyed as rapidly as possible, and one of the rare 

 and curious members of the New Zealand fauna will 

 no doubt shortly cease to exist. 



Variation occurs to a large extent also in plants, 

 as seen by the different number of varieties which 

 are described by different observers. Of the bramble, 

 for instance, Bentham described five British species ; 

 while Babington, about the same time, described as 

 many as forty-five. 



Man himself gives as good illustrations of varia- 

 tion as any animal ; for instance, in his stature, 

 habits, mental and bodily powers ; in such individual 

 details as minute inflections of the voice, or in the 

 shape of the ear. To take the most recent develop- 

 ment, Galton's work on finger-prints, the patterns 

 formed by the ridges at the tips of the fingers and 

 thumb are found to be unlike in any two cases, and 

 to retain their peculiarities unchanged throughout 

 life, thus forming one of the most trustworthy modes 

 of identification yet discovered. 



We read of the dead body of Jezebel being 

 devoured by the dogs of Jezreel, " so that no man 

 might say — This is Jezebel ; " and that the dogs 

 left only her skull, the palms of her hands, and soles 

 of her feet. It is a curious satire that these parts 

 should now be shown to be the very ones by which 

 a corpse could be most surely identified. 



The causes of variation are very imperfectly 

 understood, and careful inquiries are now being 

 made in order to elucidate them. Variation is un- 

 doubtedly influenced greatly by external conditions, 



