274 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



said) it "can do nothing if there be no variations to select from," i.e. 

 "favourable" and "injurious." The point herein overlooked by 

 Darwinians is that among any batch of seedlings in the new environment, 

 they are always all alike, i.e. " definite" and not "indefinite," acccording 

 to Darwin ; so there is no alternative for selection at all. Hence, when 

 Darwin came to realise more fully the "definite " effects of the " direct 

 action of the conditions of life," he confessed himself wrong, in 1876. 



In alluding to a supposed " Directive or Designing Principle," as 

 controlling the whole process of evolution "from the outside," this is 

 a mistake. It is "inside," and a natural law. How can the same food 

 make fur on a cat and feathers on a hawk, if the molecules be not 

 arranged differently, and directed to their destinations ? 



The author considers the genealogy of the horse to be a " demonstra- 

 tion " of the truth of evolution. Darwinians constantly refuse inductive 

 evidence in biology and insist on experimental proof ; but no inference 

 from palaeontology can supply the latter. It is an equivalent to, but not 

 in itself, a demonstration. 



With regard to Professor Weldon's crabs, there is no question of the 

 evolution of a new variety or species. All that his experiment implies is 

 that the smaller, i.e. younger, were better able to resist suffocation than 

 the elder ones ; just as a high temperature which the spores can stand 

 will kill adult bacteria &c, or one or two plants may not be killed by 

 frost which destroys all the rest of the same kind. 



This little book may thus be criticised on several points, but as a whole 

 it is a capital resume of the principal agents for Organic Evolution. 



" Observations of a Naturalist in the Pacific between 1896 and 1899." 

 By H. B. Guppy. Vol. II. Plant-dispersal. 8vo., 627 pp. (Macmillan, 

 London.) 21s. net. 



This important volume contains thirty-four chapters and an appendix, 

 with illustrations and maps. The first sixteen are concerned with strand 

 floras, and the buoyancy of their seeds or fruits, and causes of their 

 floating. 



Mr. Guppy finds generally that plants with an ample supply of water 

 produce buoyancy, whereas truly aquatic and land plants have as a rule 

 fruits or seeds which soon sink. 



The adaptation is brought about by shrinkage on maturation, chiefly by 

 a loss of water which existed in the immature state. So that in all such, 

 buoyancy is not an acquired special adaptation, but a mere result of the 

 habit of the plant. 



The reason why true aquatic and inland plants fail to have buoyant 

 fruits or seeds appears to be equally the result of habit, though Mr. Guppy 

 does not seem to have hit upon the following suggested interpretation : — 

 In the former the seeds naturally fall into the water, so do not dry up and 

 have air-chambers. In the inland plants the fruits and seeds never had 

 the excess of moisture, which on maturing would allow sufficient air- 

 spaces to enable them to float. 



It must be remembered that cellular tissue per se is heavier than 

 water, as a waterlogged piece of wood shows ; hence fruits and seeds 

 either saturated with water or perfectly dry must sink : i.e. if they have 



