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The process can best be designated by the name of intraspecific selection, if it is understood that the term intraspecific is meant to apply to the conception of small or elementary species. I do not wish to propose new terms, but I think that the principal differences might better become understood by the introduction of the word election into the discussion of questions of heredity.
In nature it does quite the same, adapting strains of individuals to the local conditions of their environment. Improved races do not generally last very long in practice; sooner or later they are surpassed by new selections. Exactly so we may imagine the agency of natural intraspecific selection.
These assertions of course, are directly opposed to the current run of scientific belief, but they are supported by facts. A considerable part of the evidence has already been dealt with and for our closing discussion only an exact comparison remains to be made between the two detailed types of intraspecific selection.
This analogy however, points to the importance of the selection between elementary species, and the very subordinate role of intraspecific selection in nature. It strongly supports our view of the origin of species by mutation instead of continuous selection. Or, to put it in the terms chosen lately by Mr.
There would be no great difficulty in the introduction of the word election, as breeders are already in the habit of calling their choice individuals "elite," at least in the case of beets and of cereals. This intraspecific selection affords a second point for the comparison between natural and artificial processes.
It is the question whether intraspecific selection may be regarded as a cause of lasting and ever-increasing improvement. This is assumed by biologists who consider fluctuating variability as the main source of progression in the organic world.
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