194 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLIX 



and some success, and in the present address I am push- 

 ing inquiry along the same line, choosing the " single 

 character" as the point of investigation and comparison. 



The Origin of Characters 

 The old and ever vague problem of the origin of species 

 is being resolved into the newer and more definite prob- 

 lem of the origin of characters; in the dim future when 

 we know how and why new characters originate, and how 

 and why they transform and disappear, the problem of 

 natural and experimental research met with some failure 

 and some success, and in the present address I am push- 

 ing inquiry along the same line, choosing the " single 

 character" as the point of investigation and comparison. 



The Origin of Characters 

 The old and ever vague problem of the origin of species 

 is being resolved into the newer and more definite prob- 

 lem of the origin of characters; in the dim future when 

 we know how and why new characters originate, and how 

 and why they transform and disappear, the problem of 

 .species will have long been solved and well-nigh for- 

 gotten. This is because a species is an assemblage or 

 colony of similar individuals, each individual is composed 

 of a vast number of somewhat similar new or old charac- 

 ters, each character has its independent and separate 

 history, each character is in a certain stage of evolution, 

 each character is correlated with the other characters of 

 the individual. 



Thus in a sense the species, the subspecies, the variety, 

 even the individual is not a zoological unit, whereas the 

 " character" when narrowed down to the last point of 

 divisibility seems to be a unit both among plants and ani- 

 mals, and a very stable one, with certain distinctive 

 powers, properties, and qualities of its own. We have 

 been approaching this new conception from many dif- 

 ferent lines of observation among fossil and living ani- 

 mals and plants, and a preliminary survey of results is 

 opportune. 



