Origin of Species Variorum

Comparison with 1869

It may be asked in ridicule, whether I suppose that the megatherium and other allied huge monsters, which formerly lived in South America have left behind them the sloth, armadillo, and anteater, as their degenerate descendants. This cannot for an instant be admitted. These huge animals have become wholly extinct, and have left no progeny. But in the caves of Brazil, there are many extinct species which are closely allied in size and in all other characters to the species still living in South America; and some of these fossils may be the actual progenitors of living species. It must not be forgotten that, on our theory, all the species of the same genus are the descendants of some one species; so that, if six genera, each having eight species, be found in one geological formation, and in a succeeding formation there be six other allied or representative genera each with the same number of species, then we may conclude that generally only one species of each of the .. older genera has left modified descendants, which constitute the several species of the new genera; the other seven species of each old genus having died out and .. left no progeny. Or, and this probably will be a far commoner case, two or three species in two or three alone of the six older genera will be the parents of the .. new genera: the other .. species and the other whole genera having become utterly extinct. In failing orders, with the genera and species decreasing in numbers, as .. is the case with the Edentata of South America, still fewer genera and species will leave modified blood-descendants.

Summary of the preceding and present Chapter .

I have attempted to show that the geological record is extremely imperfect; that only a small portion of the globe has been geologically explored with care; that

It may be asked in ridicule, whether I suppose that the megatherium and other allied huge monsters have left behind them in South America, the sloth, armadillo, and anteater, as their degenerate descendants. This cannot for an instant be admitted. These huge animals have become wholly extinct, and have left no progeny. But in the caves of Brazil, there are many extinct species which are closely allied in size and in other characters to the species still living in South America; and some of these fossils may be the actual progenitors of living species. It must not be forgotten that, on my theory, all the species of the same genus have descended from some one species; so that if six genera, each having eight species, be found in one geological formation, and in the next succeeding formation there be six other allied or representative genera with the same number of species, then we may conclude that only one species of each of the six older genera has left modified descendants, constituting the six new genera. The other seven species of the old genera have all died out and have left no progeny. Or, which would probably be a far commoner case, two or three species of two or three alone of the six older genera will have been the parents of the six new genera; the other old species and the other whole old genera having become utterly extinct. In failing orders, with the genera and species decreasing in numbers, as apparently is the case of the Edentata of South America, still fewer genera and species will have left modified blood-descendants.

Summary of the preceding and present Chapters. —

I have attempted to show that the geological record is extremely imperfect; that only a small portion of the globe has been geologically explored with care; that