318 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLIIl 



thor's present point of view. This is clearly and strongly that 

 of a neo-Darwinian. a thoroughgoing selectionist. 



The most important and interesting parts of the book are 



and theories are not only the field in which Professor Poulton 

 is especially at home— a field, indeed, which he practically owns 

 —but are also the field in which lie some of the most potent 

 testimony for the deification of selection. Weismann and other 

 neo-Darwinians have never overlooked the stumbling block to 

 Lamarckians and orthogenesists that protective resemblance, 



with his immense resources of personal knowledge in this field 

 makes to the same end. far more effective use of the facts. The 

 least pleasing and, for that matter, least profitable part of the 

 book to its readers is the polemic introduction, far too bitter and 

 personal, discussing "mutation. Mendelism and natural selec- 

 tion." It mars the book. 



The essays cover a wide range of subjects: "The age of the 

 earth"; "the definition of species"; " Huxley and selection," 

 in which is maintained the surprising thesis that the great 

 champion of Darwin "was at no time a convinced believer in 

 the theory he protected"; "a remarkable anticipation of modern 

 views on evolution," in which Weismann 's arguments against 

 the inheritance of acquired characters are shown to have been 

 in rather full measure advanced by James Cowles Prichard, the 

 English anthropologist, in 1826: "theories of heredity," 

 "theories of evolution," and, most extensively and importantly, 

 the facts and theories of insect mimicry. The exposition of 

 these in the last three chapters and special index is not only 



