Origin of Species Variorum

organs have happened to vary in the right direction, granting that there has been time sufficient for the slow work of natural selection, checked as it will be by intercrossing and the tendency to reversion, who will pretend that he knows the natural history of any one organic being sufficiently well to say whether any particular change would be to its advantage? Can we feel sure that a long proboscis would not be a disadvantage to the hive-bee in sucking the innumerable small flowers which it frequents? Can we feel sure that a long proboscis would not, by correlation of growth, almost necessarily give increased size to other parts of the mouth, perhaps interfering with the delicate cell-constructing work? In the case of the ostrich a moment's reflection will show that an enormous supply of food would be necessary in this bird of the desert, to supply force to move its huge body through the air. But such ill-considered objections are hardly worth notice.

The celebrated palæontologist, Professor Bronn, in his German translation of this work, has advanced various good objections to my views, and other remarks in its favour. ↑ Of the objections, some seem to me unimportant, some few are owing to misapprehension, and some are incidentally noticed in various parts of this volume. On the erroneous supposition that all the species of a region are believed by me to be changing at the same time, he justly asks how it is that all the forms of life do not present a fluctuating and inextricably confused body? but it is sufficient for us if some few forms at any one time are variable, and few will dispute that this is the case. He asks, how can it be on the principle of natural selection that a variety should live in abundance side by side with the parent species; for the variety during its formation is supposed to have supplanted the intermediate forms between itself and