THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 215 



balance, but the ruling principle is the survival of the normal 

 in suitable environment. 



It is clear that if selection of Individuals has not been 

 the basic factor in the origination of species as the preserver 

 of transmissible variation, we must look for some other 

 form of selection. This offers itself in the Segregation or 

 the Growth-cycle. 



For the growth-cycle begins with an act of attraction 

 or " aggregation " between two sexual elements with a 

 resulting temporary loss of identities, and ends in the 

 restoration and segregation of the elements once more. 

 And just as the fused elements inevitably segregate at the 

 end of the cycle, so do the characters potential in them 

 segregate cleanly in Individual descendants. It is true that 

 a crossing over of characters takes place on Mendelian lines, 

 but, as experiment has clearly shown, intercrossing by itself 

 cannot delete a character. Thus, it is the selection or 

 segregation of the growth-cycle, and not that of Individuals, 

 which preserves the transmissible variation as a fixed 

 character. Our main argument may thus be summed up 

 in the following way: All characters have originated as 

 acquired variation under the influence of Environment. 

 Life itself originated as an example of such variation. 



Experiment has clearly shown that acquired variations 

 can be transmitted, and when this happens they become 

 characters. But apart from this, there is clear evidence 

 that each succeeding form of living Continuity appeared as 

 an acquired variation of ancestral plan, which has been 

 preserved through countless years to the present day. 



Environment, which has moulded all characters, has 

 itself been always evolving, and by acting in innumerable 

 ways has produced the innumerable variations of Life. 



Environment has been the one and only producer of new 

 characters, and growth-cycle segregation has been the 

 factor which has all along worked for their preservation. 

 Naturally, the persistence of the environmental forces which 

 produced a new character would, of itself, cause the 

 reappearance of the character in the offspring, if not add to 

 character's intensity. 



Individual segregation to new environment, or the 

 equivalent, the imposition of new environmental conditions, 



