The examples adduced by Mr.
Mivart do not, therefore, in any way impugn the hardness of nature as a
taskmaster, or the extreme severity of the recurring struggle for
existence. (See _Nature_, vol. xxxix. p. 127.)]
[Footnote 46: _Origin of Species,_ p. 72.]
[Footnote 47: Darwin's latest expression of opinion on this question is
interesting, since it shows that he was inclined to return to his
earlier view of the general, or universal, utility of specific
characters. In a letter to Semper (30th Nov. 1878) he writes: "As our
knowledge advances, very slight differences, considered by systematists
as of no importance in structure, are continually found to be
functionally important; and I have been especially struck with this fact
in the case of plants, to which my observations have, of late years,
been confined. Therefore it seems to me rather rash to consider slight
differences between representative species, for instance, those
inhabiting the different islands of the same archipelago, as of no
functional importance, and as not in any way due to natural selection"
_(Life of Darwin_, vol.
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