Hyatt.] 146 [April 5, 



surroundings, can not perhaps be accorded a power of color 

 perception ; and suggested that form and light may govern 

 them in hunting for their prey. He also explained the differ- 

 ence between the red eyes of the albinos and others. With 

 the opthalmoscope one sees in other eyes the same red reflec- 

 tions as in albinos. 



Prof. A. Hyatt alluded to the color of the common Unios, 

 or Anodons, as probably protective, and the well known case 

 of the Melanias of the Western rivers, which are hardly 

 distinguishable by the unpracticed eye, and to the peculiar 

 and marked variations of the Siluroid fishes of the same 

 region, which agree in color very closely with the ground on 

 which they live. 



Mr. Hyatt then continued, however, that he by no means desired to 

 endorse the Darwinian doctrine of Natural Selection. A belief in 

 evolution and the derivation of all higher forms, from lower and 

 simple organisms, perhaps from inorganic matter itself, by means of 

 secondary natural forces, is perfectly consistent with opposition to 

 the Darwinian theory. According to this theory, new characteristics 

 and therefore new kinds and species of animals arise by the survival 

 of the fittest, as in a recent instance cited by the " American Natu- 

 ralist" where a new race of deer is supposed to be in course of for- 

 mation in the Southern Adirondacs. In this case, certain full grown 

 bucks, about thirteen years ago were produced, with short stabbing 

 horns like the young deer. These were thus enabled to drive away 

 the branching horned forms during the rutting season, and to leave a 

 larger number of descendants. These and their descendants, in turn 

 enjoying similar advantages are, it is stated, gradually supplanting 

 the branching horned deer in the Southern Adirondacs. The facts 

 have been disputed and need the confirmation of farther observation 

 and experience, but they form, perhaps, one of the best illustrations 

 of the theory of natural selection ever recorded. Assuming, how- 

 ever, that it is true, and that a new species of deer is now being 

 evolved in this region, what does natural selection really account 

 for? It must account for the preservation and perpetuation of the 

 branching horned variety, as well as the rise of the straight horns. 

 The Anoplotherium of the Eocene, which has always been considered 



