Historians of science such as Peter J. Bowler have used the same phrase as a label for the period within the history of evolutionary thought from the 1880s to around 1920, when alternatives to natural selection were developed and explored—as many biologists considered natural selection to have been a wrong guess on Charles Darwin's part, or at least as of relatively minor importance.
Historiadores da ciencia como Peter J. Bowler utilizaron a mesma frase como etiqueta para o período da historia do pensamento evolucionista desde a década de 1880 ata arredor de 1920, cando se desenvolveron e exploraron alternativas á selección natural, xa que moitos biólogos consideraban a selección natural unha idea incorrecta de Charles Darwin, ou polo menos de importancia relativamente menor.