CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
  PAGE
The Problem of Adaptation 1
– Structural Adaptations 1
– Adaptations for the Good of the Species 19
– Organs of Little Use to the Individual 22
– Changes in the Organism that are of No Use to the Individual or to the Race 25
– Comparison with Inorganic Phenomena 26
CHAPTER II
The Theory of Evolution 30
– Evidence in Favor of the Transmutation Theory 32
– – Evidence from Classification and from Comparative Anatomy 32
– – The Geological Evidence 39
– – Evidence from Direct Observation and Experiment 43
– – Modern Criticism of the Theory of Evolution 44
CHAPTER III
The Theory of Evolution (continued) 58
– The Evidence from Embryology 58
– – The Recapitulation Theory 58
– Conclusions 84
CHAPTER IV
Darwin’s Theories of Artificial and of Natural Selection 91
– The Principle of Selection 91
– Variation and Competition in Nature 104
– The Theory of Natural Selection 116
CHAPTER V
The Theory of Natural Selection (continued) 129
– Objections to the Theory of Natural Selection 129
– Sterility between Species 147
– Weismann’s Germinal Selection 154
CHAPTER VI
Darwin’s Theory of Sexual Selection 167
– Sexual Selection 167
– General Criticism of the Theory of Sexual Selection 213
CHAPTER VII
The Inheritance of Acquired Characters 222
– Lamarck’s Theory 222
– Darwin’s Hypothesis of Pangenesis 233
– The Neo-Lamarckian School 240
CHAPTER VIII
Continuous and Discontinuous Variation and Heredity 261
– Continuous Variation 261
– Heredity and Continuous Variation 270
– Discontinuous Variation 272
– Mendel’s Law 278
– The Mutation Theory of De Vries 287
– Conclusions 297
CHAPTER IX
Evolution as the Result of External and Internal Factors 300
– The Effect of External Influences 300
– Responsive Changes in the Organism that adapt it to the New Environment 319
– Nägeli’s Perfecting Principle 325
CHAPTER X
The Origin of the Different Kinds of Adaptations 340
– Form and Symmetry 340
– Mutual Adaptation of Colonial Forms 350
– Degeneration 352
– Protective Coloration 357
– Sexual Dimorphism and Trimorphism 360
– Length of Life as an Adaptation 370
– Organs of Extreme Perfection 371
– Secondary Sexual Organs as Adaptations 372
– Individual Adjustments as Adaptations 375
– Color Changes as Individual Adaptations 375
– Increase of Organs through Use and Decrease through Disuse 376
– Reactions of the Organism to Poisons, etc. 377
– Regeneration 379
CHAPTER XI
Tropisms and Instincts as Adaptations 382
CHAPTER XII
Sex as an Adaptation 414
– The Different Kinds of Sexual Individuals 414
– The Determination of Sex 422
– Sex as a Phenomenon of Adaptation 439
CHAPTER XIII
Summary and General Conclusions 452
INDEX 465

EVOLUTION AND ADAPTATION