Foreign Oysters Acquiring Characters of Natives

Abstract

THE facts contained in Mr. Tabor's letter, however interesting, supply no evidence for or against Lamarckism. When at Whitstable, the individual French oyster has certain characters impressed upon it by its environment. The next generation, when compared with the natives, show certain peculiarities, such as greater thickness of shell and greater growing power. But this also we are able to interpret as the reponse of the individual to the environment. If the peculiarities appear in many successive generations, the same explanation will account for the facts. If, however, Lamarckians could show that the effect of the environment, as the generations succeed one another, is cumulative, that the characters in question become progressively accentuated, then they would prove their case. But it does not appear that they have any such evidence at their command.