Origin of Species Variorum

→ animal in the ordinary state, 1859 1860 1861 1866

ordinary animal, 1869 1872

→ of structure, this being 1859 1860 1861 1866

which were 1869 1872

→ which 1859 1860 1861 1866

and that these 1869 1872

→ structure which have become correlated to 1859 1860 1861 1866

inherited structure which are correlated with 1869 1872

→ in 1859 1860 1861 1866

the oxen of 1869 1872

→ in comparison with 1859 1860 1861 1866

relatively to the length of 1869 1872

respect between the workers and the perfect females, would have been

far

....

better exemplified by the hive-bee. If a working ant or other neuter insect had been an →animal in the ordinary state, I should have unhesitatingly assumed that all its characters had been slowly acquired through natural selection; namely, by

individuals

individual

having been born with

~~some~~

some

slight profitable

modifications,

modification

→of structure, this being inherited by

the

its

offspring;

offspring,

→which again varied and

again were

were again

selected, and so

on wards.

onwards.

But with the working ant we have an insect differing greatly from its parents, yet absolutely

sterile,

sterile;

so that it could never have transmitted successively acquired modifications of structure or instinct to its progeny. It may well be asked how is it possible to reconcile this case with the theory of natural selection?

First, let it be remembered that we have innumerable instances, both in our domestic productions and in those in a state of nature, of all sorts of differences of →structure which have become correlated to certain ages, and

with

either sex. We have differences correlated not only

with

one sex, but

with

that short period

~~alone~~

alone

when the reproductive system is active, as in the nuptial plumage of many birds, and in the hooked jaws of the male salmon. We have even slight differences in the horns of different breeds of cattle in relation to an artificially imperfect state of the male sex; for oxen of certain breeds have longer horns than →in other breeds, →in comparison with the horns

in both

the bulls

and

cows of these same breeds. Hence I can see no

great

real

difficulty in any character

becoming

having become

correlated with the sterile condition of certain members of insect-communities: the difficulty lies in understanding how such correlated modifications of structure could have been slowly accumulated by natural selection.

This difficulty, though appearing insuperable, is

lessened,

les- sened,