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Evidence that supports the view that disruptive selection can promotegenetic diversity within a population has been presented in a previous paper (Thoday, 1959). Disruptive selection, resulting from hetero- geneity of environmental conditions, can therefore be regarded as a significant cause contributing to the genetic diversity that is such a striking property of natural populations of outbreeding species. Mather (i) has argued that disruptive selection, when thedifferent forms selected are interdependent, may be expected to produce polymorphic populations, and the evidence already put forwardhelps to support this argument in so far as it is legitimate to regardpolymorphism as but a special extreme form of this general geneticdiversity. Mather also pointed out that only experimental study of disruptive selection can inform us of the relationship between selectiondifferential and gene-flow, which must in part determine the quantitative importance of isolation in evolution. One of the lines described in the previous paper (D+) provides relevant information. Some of this information has already beenpublished in a preliminary report (Thoday, 1958).

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