262 BOMBAY DUCKS 
most powerful arguments in its favour. It is to-day 
almost universally accepted as a solution of all biologi- 
cal problems. It has come to be regarded with almost 
superstitious reverence as the master-key which is able 
to open the doors of all the passages which lead to the 
secret chambers of Nature. So great is our confi- 
dence in the powers of this master-key that we have 
even neglected to put it to the test in some cases. It 
has succeeded in very many instances, we therefore 
assume that it must be successful in all. It has un- 
locked the main doors, hence we deem it unnecessary 
to try it with smaller ones. 
In other words, zoological science is in danger of 
stagnation. I admit that much useful work is being 
accomplished. Never before were so many workers in 
the field. A mass of new facts is accumulating. Daily, 
fresh contributions are added to our zoological know- 
ledge. But each worker restricts himself to one small 
portion of the field, so that the main theory has made 
but little progress. 
It is time that there was a fresh stocktaking; that 
the new facts discovered were co-ordinated, and their 
relations to one another and to the main theory studied. 
At present the tendency is to attribute almost super- 
natural powers to natural selection, to believe that it is 
the key to every biological problem. 
If we ask why an animal is of such-and-such a colour, 
we are told natural selection has given the creature its 
colour as being that best suited toits needs. If we say 
that we fail to see how that particular colour is more 
useful to the animal than every other, we are told that 
