58 NATURAL SELECTION FROM 



phologists with eagerness, and that it stimulated 

 tremendously the type of investigation initiated 

 chiefly by Hofmeister. Whether Natural Selec- 

 tion stands or falls as an adequate explanation of 

 the origin of species, there can never be any doubt 

 as to the breath of life it infused into the young 

 science of phylogenetic plant morphology. 



I am in no position to state whether from the 

 standpoint of Botany the theory of Natural Se- 

 lection presents any more difficulties or probabil- 

 ities than it does from the standpoint of Zoology. 

 The hterature of the theory in its application to 

 animals is so vast, and has become so special, that 

 no botanist can be expected to compass it intelh- 

 gently. The present series of papers may make 

 this situation clear ; and yet I cannot presume to 

 speak for botanists in general, among whom there 

 is great diversity of opinion. I can only express 

 the opinion of an individual botanist who has had 

 some experience in deahng with the facts that 

 enter into the construction of phylogenies. 



SELECTION DOES NOT ORIGINATE 

 CHARACTERS 



When the botanist confines his attention to a 

 wide-ranging genus of numerous species, as the 

 genus Aster in North America, for example, the 

 origin of these species by Natural Selection 

 would seem to be an adequate explanation of the 

 situation. The variations are endless and in 



