Theory of “Mutual Selection”

抄録

By mutual selection is meant reciprocal selections exerted simultaneously by organisms of opposite standings, for instance, male and female, predator and prey, parasite and host, pollinator and plant, mimetic and model insects, etc. Mutual selection can be more powerful than ordinary one-sided natural selection, and can yield rapid and far-reaching effect. Many assumed cases of ortho-genetic or allometric growth of organs can be considered as due to mutual selection. The artificial selection may be looked upon as a special type of mutual selection where man is the one participant and domesticated animal or plant the other participant. Kropotkin's assertion of mutual aid as a leading factor for evolution may be affiliated with the theory of mutual selection.