LEWES.
(223/1.

The following is printed from a draft letter inscribed by Mr.
Darwin "Against organs having been formed by direct action of medium in distinct organisms.

Chiefly luminous and electric organs and thorns." The draft is carelessly written, and all but illegible.) August 7th, 1868.
If you mean that in distinct animals, parts or organs, such for instance as the luminous organs of insects or the electric organs of fishes, are wholly the result of the external and internal conditions to which the organs have been subjected, in so direct and inevitable a manner that they could be developed whether of use or not to their possessor, I cannot admit [your view].

I could almost as soon admit that the whole structure of, for instance, a woodpecker, had thus originated; and that there should be so close a relation between structure and external circumstances which cannot directly affect the structure seems to me to [be] inadmissible.

Such organs as those above specified seem to me much too complex and generally too well co-ordinated with the whole organisation, for the admission that they result from conditions independently of Natural Selection.