The Foundations of the Origin of Species

I do not know the authority for this statement.

267

In the Origin no limit is placed to variation as far as I know.

268

«Note in original.» History of pigeons shows increase of peculiarities during last years.

269

Compare an obscure passage in the Essay of 1842, p. 14 (#FNanchor_77_77).

270

«Note in original.» Certainly «two pages in the MS.» ought to be here introduced, viz., difficulty in forming such organ, as eye, by selection. «In the Origin, Ed. i., a chapter on Difficulties on Theory follows that on Laws of Variation, and precedes that on Instinct: this was also the arrangement in the Essay of 1842; whereas in the present Essay Instinct follows Variation and precedes Difficulties.»

271

A similar proviso occurs in the chapter on instinct in Origin, Ed. i. p. 207, vi. p. 319.

272

The discussion occurs later in Chapter VII of the Origin, Ed. i. than in the present Essay, where moreover it is fuller in some respects.

273

In the margin occurs the name of Poeppig. In Var. under Dom., Ed. ii. vol. I. p. 28, the reference to Poeppig on the Cuban dogs contains no mention of the wildness of their offspring.

274

«Note in original.» Several authors.

275

In the margin “Hogg” occurs as authority for this fact. For the reference, see p. 17, note 4.

276

In the Origin, Ed. i., he speaks more decidedly against the belief that instincts are hereditary habits, see for instance pp. 209, 214, Ed. vi. pp. 321, 327. He allows, however, something to habit (p. 216).

277

A suggestion of Hering’s and S. Butler’s views on memory and inheritance. It is not, however, implied that Darwin was inclined to accept these opinions.

278

Lord Brougham’s Dissertations on Subjects of Science, etc., 1839, p. 27.

279

This case is more briefly given in the Origin, Ed. i. p. 213, vi. p. 326. The simile of the butterfly occurs there also.

280

“A little dose, as Pierre Huber expresses it, of judgment or reason, often comes into play.” Origin, Ed. i. p. 208, vi. p. 320.

281

In the margin is written “Retriever killing one bird.” This refers to the cases given in the Descent of Man, 2nd Ed. (in 1 vol.) p. 78, of a retriever being puzzled how to deal with a wounded and a dead bird, killed the former and carried both at once. This was the only known instance of her wilfully injuring game.

282

See Origin, Ed. i. p. 214, vi. p. 327.

283

«Note in original.» Give some definition of instinct, or at least give chief attributes. «In Origin, Ed. i. p. 207, vi. p. 319, Darwin refuses to define instinct.» The term instinct is often used in «a» sense which implies no more than that the animal does the action in question. Faculties and instincts may I think be imperfectly separated. The mole has the faculty of scratching burrows, and the instinct to apply it. The bird of passage has the faculty of finding its way and the instinct to put it in action at certain periods. It can hardly be said to have the faculty of knowing the time, for it can possess no means, without indeed it be some consciousness of passing sensations. Think over all habitual actions and see whether faculties and instincts can be separated. We have faculty of waking in the night, if an instinct prompted us to do something at certain hour of night or day. Savages finding their way. Wrangel’s account – probably a faculty inexplicable by the possessor. There are besides faculties “means,” as conversion of larvæ into neuters and queens. I think all this generally implied, anyhow useful. «This discussion, which does not occur in the Origin, is a first draft of that which follows in the text, p. 123.»

284

A short discussion of a similar kind occurs in the Origin, Ed. i. p. 211, vi. p. 324.

285

This sentence agrees with the MS., but is clearly in need of correction.

286

This corresponds to Origin, Ed. i. p. 212, vi. p. 325.

287

This discussion is interesting in differing from the corresponding section of the Origin, Ed. i. p. 216, vi. p. 330, to the end of the chapter. In the present Essay the subjects dealt with are nest-making instincts, including the egg-hatching habit of the Australian bush-turkey. The power of “shamming death.” “Faculty” in relation to instinct. The instinct of lapse of time, and of direction. Bees’ cells very briefly given. Birds feeding their young on food differing from their own natural food. In the Origin, Ed. i., the cases discussed are the instinct of laying eggs in other birds’ nests; the slave-making instinct in ants; the construction of the bee’s comb, very fully discussed.

288

The distinction between faculty and instinct corresponds in some degree to that between perception of a stimulus and a specific reaction. I imagine that the author would have said that the sensitiveness to light possessed by a plant is faculty, while instinct decides whether the plant curves to or from the source of illumination.

289

«Note in the original in an unknown handwriting.» At the time when corn was pitched in the market instead of sold by sample, the geese in the town fields of Newcastle «Staffordshire?» used to know market day and come in to pick up the corn spilt.

290

«Note in original.» Macculloch and others.

291