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Show 424 CONCLUSION. [CHAP. XIV. with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction ; Inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction ; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the external conditions of life, and from use and disuse ; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Nat ural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less-improved forms. Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the mos~ exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. INDEX. ABERRANT groups, 373. Abyssinia, plants of, 326. Acclimatisation, 127. Affinities of extinct species, 287. of organic beings, 358. Agassiz on Amblyopsis, 127. on groups of species suddenly ap-pearing, 264, 267. on embryological succession, 295. on the glacia1 period, 319. on embryological characters, 364. on the embryos of vertebrata, 382. on parallelism of embryological de-velopment and geological succession, 390. A.lgoo of New Zealand, 327. Alligators, males, fighting, 84. Amblyopsis, blind fish, 127. Americat North..t. productions allied to tnose of .Jj;Urope, 323. boulders and glaciers of, 325. South, no modern formations on west ooast, 254. Ammonites, sudden extinction of, 281. Anagallis, sterility of, 219. Analogy of variations, 143. Ancylus, 336. Animals, not domesticated from bcipg variable, 23. domestic, descended from several stocks, 24. acclimatisation of, 129. of Australia, 108. with thicker fur in cold climates, J22. blind, in caves, 125. extinct, of Auetralia, 296. Anomma, 213. Antarctic islands, ancient flora of, 347. Antirrhinum, 145. Ants attending aphides, 188. slave-making instinct, 195. Ants, neuter, structure of, 209. Aphides attended by ants, 188. Aphis, development of, 384 . . Apteryx, 163. Arab horses, 38. Aralo-Caspian Sea, 296. A.rchiac, M. de, on succession of species, 284. Artichoke, Jerusalem, 129. Ascension, plants of, 339. Asclepias, pollen of, 173. Asparagus, 313. Aspicarpa, 363. Asses, striped, 147. A.teuchus, 123. Audubon on habits of frigate-bird, 166 on variation in birds'-nests, 189. on heron eating seeds, 338. Australia, animals of, 108, dogs of, 192. extinct animals of, 296. European plants in, 327. Azara on flies destroying cattle, 70. Azores, flora of, 316. Babington, Mr.1 on British plants, 49. Balancement or growth, 133. Bamboo with hooks, 176. Barberry, flowers of, 92. Barrande, M., on Silurian colonies, 274. on the succession of species, 284. on parallelism of palooozoic fQrma.tions, 287. on affinities of ancient species, 288. Barriers, importance of, 303. Batrachians on islands, 342. Bats, how structure acquired, 163. distribution of, 343. Bear, catching water-insects, 165. Bee, sting of, 180. queen, killing rivals, 180. Bees fertilising flowers, 71. hive, not sucking the red clover, 89. hive1 cell-making instinct, 200. humole, cells of, 200. parasitic, 195. Beetles, wingless, in Madeira, 124. with deficient tarsi, 123. Bentham, Mr., on British plants, 49. on classification 365. Berkeley, Mr., on seeds in salt-water, 312. Bermuda, birds of, 341. Birds acquiring fear, 189. annually cross the Atlantic, 317. colour of, on continents, 121. foseil, in caves of Brazil, 296. |