Page 196 - Once Upon a Time There Was Darwinism

Once Upon a Time
There Was Darwinism

Kettlewell's Glued

Moths

The thesis that the melanic form of pep-
pered moths appeared and multiplied in
England because of the Industrial Revolution
began to be discussed even while Darwin was
alive. In the first half of the 20th century, it re-

mained current only as an opinion, because
there was not a single scientific experiment or
observation to prove it. In 1953, H.B.D.
Kettlewell, a Darwinist medical doctor and am-
ateur biologist, decided to conduct a series of
experiments to supply the missing proof, and
went out into the English countryside, the habi-
tat of peppered moths. He released a similar
number of light and dark peppered moths and

observed how many of each type the birds
preyed. He determined that more dark-colored
moths were taken by predators from the light
lichen-covered trees.
In 1959, Kettlewell published his findings
in an article entitled "Darwin's Missing
Evidence" in the evolutionist magazine

The pho tog raphs of pep pe red moths on tree bark, pub lis hed for
de ca des in bi ology texts, we re ac tu ally of de ad moths that
Kett le well had glu ed or pin ned to the trees.

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