Origin of Species Variorum

→ thick 1859 1860

rich in fossils and thick 1861 1866

rich in fossil species of very many kinds and thick 1869

rich in fossil species of many kinds, and thick 1872

→ the 1859 1860

most of our 1861 1866 1869 1872

→ local. 1859 1860 1861

local; and lastly, although each species must have passed through numerous transitional stages, it is probable that the periods, during which each underwent modification, though many and long as measured by years, have been short in comparison with the periods during which each remained in an unchanged condition. 1866 1869 1872

→ must have tended to make the geological record extremely imperfect, and 1859 1860

must have made the geological record extremely imperfect, and 1861

OMIT 1866 1869 1872

→ not find 1859 1860

find 1861 1866

find many links— we do not find 1869 1872

→ interminable 1859 1860 1869 1872

many links between the members of the same group— we do not find interminable 1861

many links between the species of the same group— we do not find interminable 1866

↑ 1 blocks not present in 1859 1860 1861; present in 1866 1869 1872

It should also be constantly borne in mind that any linking varieties between two or more forms, which might be found, would be ranked, unless the whole chain could be perfectly restored, as so many new and distinct species; for it is not pretended that we have any sure criterion by which species and varieties can be discriminated.

only certain classes of organic beings have been largely preserved in a fossil state; that the number both of specimens and of species, preserved in our museums, is absolutely as nothing compared with the

~~incalculable~~

incalculable

number of generations which must have passed away even during a single formation; that, owing to subsidence being

almost necessary

necessary

for the accumulation of

~~fossiliferous~~

fossiliferous

deposits →thick enough to

outlast

resist

future degradation,

great

enormous

intervals of time

must have

have

elapsed between →the successive formations; that there has probably been more extinction during the periods of subsidence, and more variation during the periods of elevation, and during the latter the record will have been least perfectly kept; that each single formation has not been continuously deposited; that the duration of each formation is,

probably,

perhaps,

short compared with the average duration of specific forms; that migration has played an important part in the first appearance of new forms in any one area and formation; that widely ranging species are those which have varied

most

most,

frequently, and

and

have oftenest given rise to new species;

~~and~~

and

that varieties have at first

~~often~~

often

been →local.

~~All~~

All

These

these

causes,

causes

taken conjointly, →must have tended to make the geological record extremely imperfect, and will to a large extent explain

why— though

why

we do →not find →interminable varieties, connecting together all

~~the~~

the

extinct and existing forms

~~of life~~

of life

by the finest graduated steps. ↑

He who rejects

this

these

view

views

the

imperfection

nature

of the geological record, will rightly reject

the

whole theory. For he may ask in vain where are the numberless transitional links which must formerly have connected the closely allied or representative species, found in the

successive

several

stages of the same great

formation?

formation.

He may disbelieve in the

immense

enormous

intervals of time which

must have

have

elapsed between our consecutive formations; he