Lastly, St. Hilaire found
towards the southern extreme of the range of Gomphia oleaeformis two forms
which he did not at first doubt were distinct species, but he subsequently
saw them growing on the same bush; and he then adds, "Voila donc dans un
meme individu des loges et un style qui se rattachent tantot a un axe
verticale et tantot a un gynobase."
We thus see that with plants many morphological changes may be attributed
to the laws of growth and the inter-action of parts, independently of
natural selection. But with respect to Nageli's doctrine of an innate
tendency towards perfection or progressive development, can it be said in
the case of these strongly pronounced variations, that the plants have been
caught in the act of progressing towards a higher state of development? On
the contrary, I should infer from the mere fact of the parts in question
differing or varying greatly on the same plant, that such modifications
were of extremely small importance to the plants themselves, of whatever
importance they may generally be to us for our classifications. The
acquisition of a useless part can hardly be said to raise an organism in
the natural scale; and in the case of the imperfect, closed flowers, above
described, if any new principle has to be invoked, it must be one of
retrogression rather than of progression; and so it must be with many
parasitic and degraded animals.
Pages:
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342