" (p. 255) He shows that
even in a state of nature the instincts of animals of the same species
do in some degree vary, and that they are transmitted by inheritance. A
mastiff has imparted courage to a greyhound, and a greyhound has
transmitted to a shepherd-dog a disposition to hunt hares. Among
sporting dogs, the young of the pointer or retriever have been known to
point or to retrieve without instruction. "If," he says, "it can be
shown that instincts do vary ever so little, then I can see no
difficulty in natural selection preserving and continually accumulating
variations of instinct to any extent that was profitable. It is thus, as
I believe, that all the most complex and wonderful instincts have
arisen." (p. 257) He was rather unguarded in saying that he saw no
difficulty in accounting for the most wonderful instincts of animals. He
admits that he has found very great difficulty. He selects three cases
which he found it specially hard to deal with: that of the cuckoo, that
of the cell-building bee, and of the slave-making ant. He devotes much
space and labor in endeavoring to show how the instinct of the bee, for
example, in the construction of its cell, _might_ have been gradually
acquired. It is clear, however, that he was not able fully to satisfy
even his own mind; for he admits that "it will be thought that I have an
over-weening confidence in the principle of natural selection, when I do
not admit that such wonderful and well established facts do not
annihilate the theory.
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