| → or some few 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| OMIT 1872 |
|
| → species 1859 1860 |
| groups of species 1861 1866 1869 |
| groups or species 1872 |
|
| → but 1859 1860 |
| and consequently that the transitional forms would often long remain confined to some one region; but 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
|
| → had 1859 1860 |
| adaptation had once 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
|
| → be able to 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| OMIT 1869 1872 |
|
| ↑ 4 blocks not present in 1859 1860; present in 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
| Professor Pictet, in his excellent Review of this work, in commenting on early transitional forms, and taking birds as an illustration, cannot see how the successive modifications of the anterior limbs of a supposed prototype could possibly have been of any advantage.
But look at the penguins of the Southern Ocean; have not these birds their front limbs in this precise intermediate state of "neither
true arms nor true wings"?
Yet these birds hold their place victoriously in the battle for life; for they exist in infinite numbers and of many kinds.
I do not sup- pose
that we here see the real transitional grade
through which the wings of birds have passed; but what special difficulty is there in believing that it might profit the modified descendants of the penguin, first to become enabled to flap along the surface of the sea like the logger-headed duck, and ultimately to rise from its surface and glide through the air?
|
|
| ↑ 1 blocks not present in 1859 1860; present in 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
| Even in so short an interval as that between the first and second editions of Pictet's
great work on Palæontology, published in 1844-46 and in
1853-57, the conclusions on the first appearance and disappearance of several groups of animals have been considerably modified; and a third edition would require still further changes.
|
|
| → the great class of mammals was 1859 1860 |
| the whole class of mammals was 1861 1866 |
| mammals were 1869 1872 |
|
| → belongs 1859 1872 |
| for its thickness, belongs 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
|
| → series. 1859 1860 1861 1869 1872 |
| series. Cuvier used to urge that no monkey occurred in any tertiary stratum; but now extinct species have been discovered in India, South America, and in Europe, as far back as the miocene stage. 1866 |
|
|
elapsed between our consecutive formations,— longer perhaps in
cases than the time required for the accumulation of each formation. These intervals will have given time for the multiplication of species from some one
→or some few
and in the succeeding
such
→species
will appear as if suddenly created. |
|
| I may here recall a remark formerly made,
that it might require a long succession of ages to adapt an organism to some new and peculiar line of life, for
to fly through the air;
→but
when this
→had
been effected, and a few species had thus acquired a great advantage over other organisms, a comparatively short time would be necessary to produce many divergent forms, which would
→be able to
spread rapidly and widely throughout the world. ↑
|
|
| I will now give a few examples to illustrate
and to show how liable we are to error in supposing that whole groups of species have suddenly been produced. ↑
I may recall the well-known fact that in geological treatises, published not many years ago,
→the great class of mammals was
always spoken of as having abruptly come in at the commencement of the tertiary series. And now one of the richest known accumulations of fossil
→belongs
to the middle of the secondary series; and
true
been discovered in the new red sandstone at nearly the commencement of this great
→series. Cuvier used to urge that no monkey occurred in any tertiary stratum; but now extinct species have been discovered in India, South America, and in
as far back as the
stage.
The most striking case, however, is that of the Whale family; as these animals have huge bones, are marine, and range over the world, the fact of not a single bone of a whale having been discovered in
|
