Excerpt from Variation in Animals and Plants

Variation studied from the mathematical standpoint - Variation of birds diagrammatically represented - Distribution of crab measurements - Normal curve of error - Its relation to binomial curve - Variations in animals and plants subject to Law of Frequency of Error - Measurement of variation in terms of Probable Error, Arithmetic Mean Error, and Error, of Mean Square - Examples of asymmetrical series - Representation of these by a generalised mathematical expression.

If a number of individuals of any species be compared, it will be found that they all show differences from each other either in size, shape, colour, relation of parts, or other characteristics, in fact, no two of them are exactly alike. Even if offspring be compared with their own parents, similar, though on the whole not such marked, differences will present themselves.

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