[DG] It would appear, from certain passages of his "Darwinism," that
Mr. A. R. Wallace (e.g. p. 139, note) holds or held similar views.
"The genera _Ateles_ and _Colobus_," he says, "are two of the most
purely arboreal types of monkeys, and it is not difficult to
conceive that the constant use of the elongated fingers for
climbing from tree to tree, and catching on to branches while
making great leaps, might require all the nervous energy and
muscular growth to be directed to the fingers, the small thumb
remaining useless." I should also have quoted Mr. Wallace's
account of the twisting round of the eyes of flat-fishes--where he
says that the constant repetition of the effort of twisting the
eye towards the upper side of the head, when the bony structure is
still soft and flexible, causes the eye gradually to move round
the head till it comes to the upper side--had he not subsequently
disclaimed this explanation (see _Nature_, vol. xl. p. 619). It is
possible that Mr. Wallace, notwithstanding the words "constant
use" in the passage I have quoted, merely intends to imply that
the elongated fingers are of advantage in climbing, and are thus
subject to natural selection, the thumb diminishing through
economy of growth.
[DH] I find, on rereading one of his articles, that I have here
unwittingly adopted one of Mr. Romance's arguments (see _Nature_,
vol. xxxvi. p. 406). The instance Mr. Romanes cites is the curious
habit of dogs turning round before they lie down.
[DI] Mr. Darwin, while contending that the modifications need not all
have been simultaneous, says, "Although natural selection would
thus tend to give the male elk its present structure, yet it is
probable that the inherited effects of use, and of the mutual
action of part on part, have been equally or more important"
("Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. ii. p. 328).
[DJ] _Midland Naturalist_, November, 1889.
[DK] See _ante_, p. 52.
[DL] _Nature_, vol. xli. p. 511.
[DM] "Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. ii. p. 291.
[DN] In the third chapter we saw that in such cases not only are there
an enormous number of ova produced, but that (e.g. in aurelia and
the liver-fluke) each ovum produces, through the intervention of
asexual multiplication, many individuals.
[DO] Cope, "Origin of the Fittest," pp. 226, 125, and 297.
[DP] "Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. ii. p. 313.
[DQ] Ibid. p. 56.
[DR] _Nature_, vol. xxxvi. p. 592.
[DS] Quoted from "Medical Notes and Reflections," 1855, p. 267, by
Darwin, "Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. i. p. 446.
[DT] Darwin, "Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. i. p. 465.
[DU] "Natural Inheritance," p. 12.
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