Again he speaks of "the enormous number,"
and further on of "the innumerable multitude" of specific peculiarities
which are useless; and he finally declares that the question needs no
further arguing, "because in the later editions of his works Mr. Darwin
freely acknowledges that a large proportion of specific distinctions
must be conceded to be useless to the species presenting them."
I have looked in vain in Mr. Darwin's works to find any such
acknowledgment, and I think Mr. Romanes has not sufficiently
distinguished between "useless characters" and "useless specific
distinctions." On referring to all the passages indicated by him I find
that, in regard to specific characters, Mr. Darwin is very cautious in
admitting inutility. His most pronounced "admissions" on this question
are the following: "But when, from the nature of the organism and of the
conditions, modifications have been induced which are unimportant for
the welfare of the species, they may be, and apparently often have been,
transmitted in nearly the same state _to numerous, otherwise modified,
descendants_" (_Origin_, p.
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