THE FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS, ETO. 683 
these phenomena, and declares himself a firm adherent of Darwin’s 
theory, finding the explanation of every special contrivance on 
the one side or the other in the principle to which we have already 
referred. He therefore vigorously combats the teleological views 
of Sprengel and Delpino, the latter of whom especially, while ac- 
cepting the theory of evolution or descent with modification, yet 
disputes the soundness, or at least the adequacy, of the other the- 
ory usually associated with it, that of natural selection. He recurs, 
in fact, to the pre-Darwinian doctrine of design, to account for the 
phenomena which furnish the subject of this work, or, as Miller 
represents him: ‘* Nature is with him a being endowed with human 
thought, which has invented definite forms of flowers leading nec- 
essarily to cross-fertilization ; and this is then completely carried 
out by the employment of different parts of plants for the same 
purpose. This creator of flowers, far exceeding in talent the clev- 
erest man, has predestined certain forms of flowers for certain in- 
sects, and certain insects for certain forms of flowers, and has 
contrived each one to fit the other.” The reasons which may be 
adduced against this theory would be simply a repetition of the 
main argument of Darwin’s Origin of Species and Variation of 
Animals and Plants under domestication. The believer in the doc- 
trine of natural selection finds it more consonant with the facts 
which he sees around him to assume that Nature —if it is possi- 
ble to personify the idea— works, not by preconceived notions 
and prearranged harmonies, in which case we should expect to 
find everything perfect, without discord, waste, or incompleteness ; 
but rather, as a human workman would act, tentatively ; making 
small improvements here and slight adaptations there ; every form 
of life, in fact, constantly approaching a more and more perfect 
adaptation to the circumstances in which it is placed, a perfection | 
which, however, is never absolutely attained. 
There are few regions of scientific inquiry more easily open to 
any observer resident in the country and possessed of ordinary 
powers of observation, than those connected with the fertilization 
of flowers, and none which would more amply repay careful re- 
search by leading to further insight into the still hidden laws which 
govern the origin of species. To all workers in this field Dr. 
Miiller’s elaborate and in every respect admirable work will be an 
indispensable companion.—A. W. Bennett, in the Academy. 
