Abstract
H. B. D. Kettlewell's field experiments on industrial melanism in the peppered moth, Biston betularia, have become the best known demonstration of natural selection in action. I argue that textbook accounts routinely portray this research as an example of controlled experimentation, even though this is historically misleading. I examine how idealized accounts of Kettlewell's research have been used by professional biologists and biology teachers. I also respond to some criticisms of David Rudge to my earlier discussions of this case study, and I question Rudge's claims about the importance of purely observational studies for the eventual acceptance and popularization of Kettlewell's explanation for the evolution of industrial melanism.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arms, K. and Camp, P.S.: 1995, Biology (4th edn), Saunders, Fort Worth.
Biggs, A., Kapicka, C. and Lundgren, L.: 1995, Biology; The Dynamics of Life, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, New York.
Buchsbaum, R., Holm, R.W. and Ehrlich, P.: 1966. Natural Selection, Encyclopedia Brittanica Films.
Dobzhansky, T.: 1970, Genetics of the Evolutionary Process, Columbia University Press, New York.
Dowdeswell, W.H.: 1960, The Mechanism of Evolution, Harper and Row, New York.
Ford, E.B.: 1937, ‘Problems of Heredity in the Lepidoptera’, Biological Reviews 12, 461–503.
Ford, E.B.: 1955, Moths, Collins, London (3rd edn, 1972).
Ford, E.B.: 1960, ‘Evolution in Progress’, in Tax, S. (ed.), Evolution after Darwin, Vol. 1, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Ford, E.B.: 1964, Ecological Genetics, Methuen, London.
Gooding, D., Pinch, T. and Shaffer, S.: 1989, The Uses of Experiment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Grobman, A.B.: 1969, The Changing Classroom: The Role of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, Doubleday, Garden City.
Hagen, J.B.: 1993, ‘Kettlewell and the Peppered Moths Reconsidered’, BioScene 19(3), 3–9.
Hagen, J.B.: 1996, ‘H.B.D. Kettlewell and the Peppered Moths’, in Hagen, J.B., Allchin, D. and Singer, F. (eds.), Doing Biology, Harper Collins, New York.
Johnson, G.B.: 1994, Biology: Visualizing Life, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Austin.
Johnson, G.B. and Raven, P.H.: 1996, Biology: Principles and Explanations, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Austin.
Kettlewell, H.B.D.: 1955, ‘Selection Experiments on Industrial Melanism in the Lepidoptera’, Heredity 9, 323–342.
Kettlewell, H.B.D.: 1956, ‘Further Selection Experiments on Industrial Melanism in the Lepidoptera’, Heredity 10, 287–301.
Kettlewell, H.B.D.: 1959, ‘Darwin's Missing Evidence’, Scientific American 200(3), 48–53.
Kettlewell, H.B.D.: 1973, The Evolution of Melanism, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
MacArthur, R.H. and Connell, J.H.: 1966, The Biology of Populations, John Wiley, New York.
Mayr, E.: 1963, Animal Species and Evolution, Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA.
Miller, K.R. and Levine, J.: 1995, Biology (3rd edn), Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs.
Muller, H.J.: 1959, ‘One Hundred Years Without Darwin are Enough’, School Science and Mathematics 49, 314–318.
Nelkin, D.: 1982, The Creation Controversy: Science or Scripture in the Schools, Norton, New York.
Provine, W.B: 1986, Sewell Wright and Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Ricklefs, R.E.: 1973, Ecology, Chiron Press, Portland, Oregon (2nd edn 1979; 3rd edn 1990).
Rudge, D: 1995, ‘The Use of Controls in Kettlewell's Investigation of the Peppered Moth, Biston betularia’, paper delivered at the History of Science Society meeting, Minneapolis.
Sheppard, P.M.: 1958, Natural Selection and Heredity, Philosophical Library, New York.
Sheppard, P.M.: 1959, ‘The Evolution of Mimicry; a Problem in Ecology and Genetics’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology 24, 131–140.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hagen, J.B. Retelling Experiments: H.B.D. Kettlewell's Studies of Industrial Melanism in Peppered Moths. Biology & Philosophy 14, 39–54 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006576518561
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006576518561