﻿Octavius 
  Pickard 
  - 
  Camb 
  r 
  idge. 
  

  

  liii 
  

  

  " 
  something 
  in 
  the 
  male 
  organisation 
  of 
  a 
  special, 
  and 
  sexual 
  nature, 
  which, 
  

   of 
  its 
  own 
  vital 
  force, 
  develops 
  the 
  remarkable 
  male 
  peculiarities 
  so 
  

   commonly 
  seen, 
  and 
  of 
  no 
  imaginable 
  use 
  to 
  that 
  sex. 
  In 
  as 
  far 
  as 
  

   these 
  peculiarities 
  show 
  a 
  great 
  vital 
  power, 
  they 
  point 
  out 
  to 
  us 
  the 
  

   finest 
  and 
  strongest 
  individuals 
  of 
  the 
  sex, 
  and 
  show 
  us 
  which 
  of 
  them 
  

   would 
  most 
  certainly 
  appropriate 
  to 
  themselves 
  the 
  best 
  and 
  greatest 
  

   number 
  of 
  females, 
  and 
  leave 
  behind 
  them 
  the 
  strongest 
  and 
  greatest 
  

   number 
  of 
  progeny. 
  And 
  here 
  would 
  come 
  in, 
  as 
  it 
  appears 
  to 
  me, 
  the 
  

   proper 
  application 
  of 
  Darwin's 
  theory 
  of 
  Natural 
  Selection 
  ; 
  for 
  the 
  

   possessors 
  of 
  greatest 
  vital 
  power 
  being 
  those 
  most 
  frequently 
  produced 
  

   and 
  reproduced, 
  the 
  external 
  signs 
  of 
  it 
  would 
  go 
  on 
  developing 
  in 
  an 
  ever- 
  

   increasing 
  exaggeration, 
  only 
  to 
  be 
  checked 
  where 
  it 
  became 
  really 
  

   detrimental 
  in 
  some 
  respect 
  or 
  other 
  to 
  the 
  individual."* 
  This 
  is 
  essentially 
  

   the 
  same 
  as 
  Wallace's 
  view, 
  arrived 
  at 
  much 
  earlier 
  than 
  Wallace. 
  It 
  

   encounters 
  one 
  main 
  difficulty 
  — 
  that 
  there 
  is 
  no 
  valid 
  reason 
  why 
  one 
  colour- 
  

   should 
  need 
  more 
  vital 
  power 
  for 
  its 
  production 
  than 
  another, 
  an 
  objection 
  

   especially 
  obvious 
  in 
  structural 
  colours 
  dependent 
  upon 
  the 
  precise 
  thinness 
  

   of 
  plates 
  or 
  intervals 
  between 
  striae, 
  etc. 
  

  

  In 
  writing 
  this 
  notice, 
  I 
  owe 
  almost 
  everything 
  to 
  the 
  memoir 
  printed 
  in 
  

   1918 
  for 
  private 
  circulation 
  by 
  Mr. 
  A. 
  W. 
  Pickard-Cambridge, 
  who 
  has 
  

   entered 
  with 
  the 
  most 
  complete 
  sympathy 
  and 
  insight 
  into 
  every 
  side 
  of 
  his 
  

   father's 
  life. 
  A 
  copy, 
  presented 
  by 
  the 
  author, 
  is 
  in 
  the 
  library 
  of 
  the 
  

   Eoyal 
  Society. 
  

  

  E. 
  B. 
  P. 
  

  

  * 
  From 
  a 
  letter 
  written 
  to 
  A. 
  R. 
  Wallace 
  in 
  1869 
  and 
  quoted 
  in 
  " 
  Darwinism," 
  1889, 
  

   p. 
  296, 
  n. 
  1. 
  

  

  