Page:The Last link.djvu/139

Rh to deal with extremely simple organisms. Is it likely in the case of our frogs that an almost imperceptible variation in colour makes them more fit to live? We have to assume that 'luck' or chance kept them for generations out of harm's reach, until the accumulation of green, hitherto quite ineffective, neither harmful nor useful, became strong enough to be effective. Such cases undoubtedly happen.

But we can also argue out this problem in a somewhat different way, which goes nearer to the root of the whole process. The original slight, imperceptible change in pigmentation is not a spontaneous freak; it was caused by the direct influence of the surroundings in which the particular frogs happened to live, be this factor light or temperature or food. Thus it stands to reason that the offspring, living under similar conditions, will be acted upon in the same way. That factor which has added green to the parents will add green to the childranchildren [sic],