wings, eyes, &c., respectively; and these
severally formed parts grow together, and build up the head and body by
their mutual approximation. Such a process is unknown outside the class of
insects, and inside that class it is only known in a few of the two-winged
flies. Now, how "Natural Selection," or any "laws of correlation," can
account for the gradual development of such an exceptional process of
development--so extremely divergent from that of other insects--seems
nothing less than inconceivable. Mr. Darwin himself[37] gives an account of
a very peculiar and abnormal mode of development of a certain beetle, the
sitaris, as described by M. Fabre. This insect, instead of at first
appearing in its grub stage, and then, after a time, putting on the adult
form, is at first active and furnished with six legs, two long antennae, and
four eyes. Hatched in the nests of bees, it at first attaches itself to one
of the males, and then crawls, when the opportunity offers, upon a female
bee. When the female bee lays her eggs, the young sitaris springs upon them
and devours them. Then, losing its eyes, legs, and antennae, and {47}
becoming rudimentary, it sinks into an ordinary grub-like form, and feeds
on honey, ultimately undergoing another transformation, re-acquiring its
legs, &c., and emerging a perfect beetle! That such a process should have
arisen by the accumulation of minute accidental variations in structure and
habit, appears to many minds, quite competent to form an opinion on the
subject, absolutely incredible.

It may be objected, perhaps, that these difficulties are _difficulties of
ignorance_--that we cannot explain them because we do not know _enough_ of
the animals. But it is here contended that this is not the case; it is not
that we merely fail to see how Natural Selection acted, but that there is a
positive incompatibility between the cause assigned and the results. It
will be stated shortly what wonderful instances of co-ordination and of
unexpected utility Mr. Darwin has discovered in orchids. The discoveries
are not disputed or undervalued, but the explanation of their _origin_ is
deemed thoroughly unsatisfactory--utterly insufficient to explain the
incipient, infinitesimal beginnings of structures which are of utility only
when they are considerably developed.

Let us consider the mammary gland, or breast. Is it conceivable that the
young of any animal was ever saved from destruction by accidental