4 J. T. Gulick — Inconsistencies of Utilitarianism. 



formation. In the passage I have quoted from p. 142, he 

 expresses great confidence in the proof that all specific char- 

 acters are developed and fixed by natural selection ; but in the 

 discussion that follows concerning the influence of natural 

 selection, he claims as belonging to this principle sets of influ- 

 ences which are usually included under sexual selection, and 

 which he cannot regard as due to the reactions between the 

 species and its environment. (See Darwinism, pp. 282-5), 

 and, even then, it is found too narrow to cover all the facts of 

 specific divergence ; for, when he comes to consider the origin 

 and development of accessory plumes, he has to abandon the 

 theory to which he has clung through the greater part of the 

 book. Speaking of the enormously lengthened plumes of the 

 " bird of paradise and of the peacock," he says, on page 293, 

 " The fact that they have been developed to so great an extent in 

 a few species is an indication of such perfect adaptation to the 

 conditions of existence, such complete success in the battle of 

 life, that there is, in the adult male at all events, a surplus of 

 strength, vitality and growth power, which is able to expand 

 itself in this way without injury. That such is the case is 

 shown by the great abundance of most of the species which 

 possess these wonderful superfluities of plumage. * * * 

 Why, in allied species, the development of accessory plumes 

 has taken different forms, we are unable to say, excep>t that it 

 may be due to that individual variability which has served as- 

 the starting point for so much of what seems to us to be 

 strange in form or fantastic in color, both in the animal and 

 vegetable world." (The italics are mine.) According to the 

 theory he has elsewhere maintained, these superfluities of form 

 and color which are not controlled by natural selection should 

 present, " a series of inconstant varieties mingled together, not 

 a distinct segregation of forms" (p. 148); but in this passage 

 he teaches that they have assumed different forms in allied 

 species. On p. 141 he maintains that characters which are 

 neither beneficial nor injurious are from their very nature 

 unstable and cannot become specific, while here he offers a 

 suggestion as to how they have become specific. There is 

 then a problem that presses for solution, namely, the explana- 

 tion of permanent divergence in characters that are useless 

 without being hurtful (p. 142), unless he considers his sugges- 

 tion " that it may be due to individual variability " an adequate 

 explanation ; and I presume he does not. On page 142, he 

 says of characters that are " useless without being hurtful :" 

 "ISTo cause or influence has been adduced adequate to render 

 such characters fixed and constant ; but in speaking of " the 

 delicate tints of spring foliage, and the intense hues of autumn," 

 he says : "As colors they are unadaptive, and appear to have 



