1. In Chapter VI of The Origin of Species, Darwin writes:
But when we bear in mind that almost every species, even in its metropolis, would increase immensely in numbers, were it not for other competing species; that nearly all either prey on or serve as prey for others; in short, that each organic being is either directly or indirectly related in the most important manner to other organic beings, we must see that the range of the inhabitants of any country by no means exclusively depends on insensibly changing physical conditions, but in large part on the presence of other species, on which it depends, or by which it is destroyed, or with which it comes into competition; and as these species are already defined objects (however they may have become so), not blending one into another by insensible gradations, the range of any one species, depending as it does on the range of others, will tend to be sharply defined.
In a brief essay, explicate this passage with specific reference to the chapters of the book you have read, and in light of our discussions of Darwin in class. Please make clear how the ideas in this passage relate to Darwin's theory as a whole. (The passage comes from p. 208 in the Penguin edition, and you'll find an on-line version of the 2nd edition of Darwin's book at http://www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-origin-of-species/.)
2. In the third chapter of What is Life?, "Mutations", Schrodinger echoes Morgan's 1923 article a bit in his discussion of a sense in which "Darwin was mistaken." Summarize his argument, and specifically explain his distinction between variation and mutation and its importance in the discussion.
3. Suppose a wild population contains red-eyed and white-eyed flies. To investigate the patterns of inheritance of these characteristics you cross two white-eyed flies and you get all white eyed progeny. Then you cross two red eyed flies and gets all red-eyed progeny. But when you repeat the red-eyed cross with a different pair of red-eyed flies, you get 22% white eyed progeny and 78% red-eyed progeny. Explain your observations, giving the most probable genotypes of the parents and progeny of each cross.
4. Explain in your own words the significance of Table II in the 1944 paper by Avery, MacLeod and McCarty.
5. An interesting historical question about the paper by Avery, MacLeod and McCarty is why it was overlooked for so long. In the chapter titled "Aftermath", McCarty meditates on the question and clearly has his own opinions. Suppose you are a Historian of Science interested in clarifying the most likely explanation for the neglect. Describe the speicifics of a research project that would give you some evidence for distinguishing between the trength of the possible explanations offered by McCarty.