Larvae are active embryos, which
have become specially modified in a greater or less degree in relation to
their habits of life, with their modifications inherited at a corresponding
early age. On these same principles, and bearing in mind that when organs
are reduced in size, either from disuse or through natural selection, it
will generally be at that period of life when the being has to provide for
its own wants, and bearing in mind how strong is the force of
inheritance--the occurrence of rudimentary organs might even have been
anticipated. The importance of embryological characters and of rudimentary
organs in classification is intelligible, on the view that a natural
arrangement must be genealogical.
Finally, the several classes of facts which have been considered in this
chapter, seem to me to proclaim so plainly, that the innumerable species,
genera and families, with which this world is peopled, are all descended,
each within its own class or group, from common parents, and have all been
modified in the course of descent, that I should without hesitation adopt
this view, even if it were unsupported by other facts or arguments.
CHAPTER XV.
RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION.
Recapitulation of the objections to the theory of Natural Selection --
Recapitulation of the general and special circumstances in its favour --
Causes of the general belief in the immutability of species -- How far the
theory of Natural Selection may be extended -- Effects of its adoption on
the study of Natural History -- Concluding remarks.
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