ABSTRACT
I should like to speak about a few thoughts that have come to me during the course of this symposum. They are based on some facts that have been brought up repeatedly and in several contexts. They concern observations on the variability of apes and early man, which to an evolutionist seem very interesting. Professor Schultz has emphasized that there is a large amount of interindividual variability among the great apes. In particular, he mentioned the gibbon and the gorilla, but it may be added that in recent man interindividual variability appears to be relatively large as compared with a number of other species. On the other hand, it has been pointed out by Professor Vallois and Professor Blanc that it was different with Neanderthal man; all the Neanderthal men who have been found are remarkably similar to one another even over relatively great distances. Since variability in populations is of crucial importance in studies of evolution, I should like to start my discussion with a consideration of the possible meaning of this difference in variability between different groups.
