409 
Writing upon this subject, Prince Kropotkin says :— 
“ It becomes less and less probable to admit that the animal 
colours are the result of a selection of accidental variations only. 
. . . The food of the organism, and especially the amount of salt 
in it, the dryness or moisture of the air, the amount of sunshine, 
and so on, undoubtedly exercise a direct effect on the colour of the 
skin, on the fur, and on the very intimate anatomical structure of the 
animal. The direct modifying action of environment is very great, 
and no theory can claim to be scientific unless it takes it into con 
sideration to its full amount.”—(Nineteenth Century, voi. xxxiii., 
p. 689.) 
But what does this mean, except that the first condition 
under which Natural Selection can take place is alto 
gether wanting ? And this also is what Prince Kropotkin 
admits, for he says :— 
“ Coloration responds to function ; and there is a law in the 
distribution of colours and the development of the markings, while 
there ought to be none under the hypothesis of selected accidental 
variation.”—(Kropotkin. Nineteenth Century, voi. xxxiii., p. 684.) 
And yet he hesitates to reject the theory on that account, 
for he says :— 
“As to the relative parts which must be attributed in the origin 
of each separate variation to Natural Selection on the one side and 
to the direct action of environment on the other side, it would simply 
be unscientific to trench upon such questions in a broadcast way so 
long as we are only making our first steps in discriminating the 
action of the latter agency. The first steps already indicate how 
complicated such questions are, especially in those cases where 
Natural Selection must act in an indirect way—not as a mere selec 
tion of already modelled forms, but as a selection of forms best 
capable to respond to the requirements of new conditions—in which 
case the intimate organisation of the living being comes in the first 
place.”—(p. 689.) 
Now in reply to this argument, I would venture to say 
that, in denying that these changes of colour are accidental, 
Prince Kropotkin removes what is absolutely essential to 
the theory of Natural Selection. For if the favourable