Of Moths and Men: The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth.

JUDITH HOOPER

About the same time that Charles Darwin was tracking finches of the Galapagos to make his case for natural selection, a mutant form of the peppered moth, Biston betularia, appeared on trees in the industrialized midlands of England. These moths were significantly darker than the pale moths that populated the region before the tree trunks became blackened by factory soot. The change in color seemed to camouflage the darker moths against the tree trunks, so birds had a harder time finding them. Scientists at the time hypothesized that these moths were hard evidence for Darwin's theory but didn't do experiments to prove it. In the mid-1950s, geneticist E.B. Ford, the founder of the Oxford School of Ecological Genetics, recruited a physician named Bernard Kettlewell to do an in-depth study of the moths and whether they were proof of evolution. Kettlewell's findings seemed to show conclusively that the moths were "Darwin's missing evidence." Hooper turns an investigative eye on the peppered-moth experiment. She finds that in the 50 years since Kettlewell published his findings, his results have been difficult to reproduce, and there have been valid, albeit quiet, challenges to his work. Hooper also recounts the rivalries, jealousies, and ambitions of the lepidopterists involved in the work that may have tainted the findings. Norton, 2002, 377 p., hardcover, $26.95.