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character; for
→more living beings can be supported on the same area
the more
diverge in structure, habits, and constitution,
→of
which we see proof by looking
the inhabitants of any small
→or at naturalised productions.
during the modification of the descendants of any one species, and during the incessant struggle of all species to increase in numbers, the more diversified
descendants become, the better will be their chance of
in the battle
life. Thus the small differences distinguishing varieties of the same species,
steadily tend to
till they
equal the greater differences between species of the same genus, or even of distinct genera. |
| We have seen that it is the common, the
and
species, belonging to the larger
→which
vary most; and these
tend to transmit to their modified offspring that superiority which now makes them dominant in their own countries. Natural selection, as has just been remarked, leads to divergence of character and to much extinction of the less improved and intermediate forms of life. On these principles,
the nature of the
→of all
organic beings
→may
be explained. It is a truly wonderful fact— the wonder of which we are apt to overlook from familiarity— that all animals and all plants throughout all time and space should be related to each other in
subordinate to
in the manner which we everywhere behold— namely, varieties of the same species most closely
species of the same genus less closely and unequally
forming sections and sub-genera, species of distinct genera much less closely related, and genera related in different degrees, forming
families, orders, sub-classes, and classes. The several subordinate groups in any class cannot be
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