12 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
VoL. 2 
Certain exuberant growths of nature may be due to 
what Weismann calls “ germinal selection/’ or the develop- 
ment of strong at the expense of weak determinants. 
Both the small and the large things of nature puzzle 
us with their complexity. Herbert Spencer turned from the 
problems of stellar space and the movements of millions of 
suns to contemplation of the innumerable minvte life-forms 
exhibiting endless variet\L which have through long geological 
ages helped to form the floor of oceans. Only quite recent!}', 
by the aid of the microscope, have many of these become 
known to us, yet some of the Radiolaria, for instance, are 
among the most beautiful things in the world. 
Whilst variation is the rule with most organisms, it is 
well known that certain creatures exist rigid and unperturbed 
over wide and diverse areas, and certain simple forms have 
apparently subsisted unchanged from Palaeozoic times. None 
the less we find evolutionary processes markedly influencing 
many of the lower organisms in comparatively recent eras. 
Wherever we And forms of life existing on a large scale, we 
discover associative organisms. Sometimes these are merely 
commensal and are harmless, or even of mutual utility ; 
more often they are militantly parasitical, and a complex 
struggle for survival results. There is much evidence that 
many of the more virulent forms of parasitic life are essentially 
modern develojments. Take for instance, some of the 
innumerable adaptations of parasitic hymenojflera, entozoa, 
and disease-creating bacteria. 
Our present outlook is too circumscribed for modern 
man to focus the movements of life. Thus we must look 
to the past for a key ; we must glance at the records of palaeon- 
tology. Much of our knowledge here is still in the making, 
for palaeontology is one of the youngest of sciences But 
the facts now placed before us must be disconcerting to those 
who look for records of a simple, predestined plan of progress. 
The authority of A. vSmith W’oodward^^- mav be quoted 
to the effect that the general study of fossils gives some 
support to the mutation theory. Apparently there have 
been periods of perturbation and organic susceptibility, and 
also periods of comjmrative stability. Cope uses the term 
“ ex])ression-point ” for the fixed and definite acquisition 
of some new character, resulting from these periodic outbursts 
of life. 
In “ Tile Evolution of Plants,” D. H. Scott points out 
that ” the past history of plants by no means shoves a regular 
progression from the simple to the complex, but often the 
contrarv. This apparent anomaly is due to two causes : 
One of these is the successive ascendency of dominant families 
(as shown by the palaeobotanical record), each of which 
(6) Ann. and Ma^'. Nat. His., \'oI. 18, U)06, p. 316. 
