TRANSMIT ANYTHING TO THEIR DESCENDANTS. This is true of WORKER BEES, and
particularly of ANTS, and I shall here give a brief survey of the present
state of the problem as it appears to me.

Much has been written on both sides of this question since the published
controversy on the subject in the nineties between Herbert Spencer and
myself. I should like to return to the matter in detail, if the space at
my disposal permitted, because it seems to me that the arguments I advanced
at that time are equally cogent to-day, notwithstanding all the objections
that have since been urged against them. Moreover, the matter is by no
means one of subordinate interest; it is the very kernel of the whole
question of the reality and value of the principle of selection. For if
selection alone does not suffice to explain "HARMONIOUS ADAPTATION" as I
have called Spencer's COADAPTATION, and if we require to call in the aid of
the Lamarckian factor it would be questionable whether selection could
explain any adaptations whatever. In this particular case--of worker bees
--the Lamarckian factor may be excluded altogether, for it can be
demonstrated that here at any rate the effects of use and disuse cannot be
transmitted.

But if it be asked why we are unwilling to admit the cooperation of the
Darwinian factor of selection and the Lamarckian factor, since this would
afford us an easy and satisfactory explanation of the phenomena, I answer:
BECAUSE THE LAMARCKIAN PRINCIPLE IS FALLACIOUS, AND BECAUSE BY ACCEPTING IT
WE CLOSE THE WAY TOWARDS DEEPER INSIGHT. It is not a spirit of
combativeness or a desire for self-vindication that induces me to take the
field once more against the Lamarckian principle, it is the conviction that
the progress of our knowledge is being obstructed by the acceptance of this
fallacious principle, since the facile explanation it apparently affords
prevents our seeking after a truer explanation and a deeper analysis.