Origin of Species Variorum

→ comes 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

has come not 1872

→ degree. 1861 1866 1869 1872

degree. For in this case the variability will seldom as yet have been fixed by the continued selection of the individuals varying in the required manner and degree, and by the continued rejection of those tending to revert to a former and less modified condition. 1859 1860

←Subtitle not present 1859 1860 1861 Specific Characters more Variable than Generic Characters . 1866 1869 1872

→ included in these remarks 1859 1860 1861 1866

included in the above remarks 1869

discussed under the last heading 1872

→ extended. 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

applied to our present subject. 1872

→ If some species in a large genus of plants 1859 1860 1861 1866

If in a large genus of plants some species 1869

To explain by a simple example what is meant: if in a large genus of plants 1872

→ had 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

some species had 1872

→ is not in this case applicable, 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

OMIT 1872

→ namely, 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

is not here applicable, namely, 1872

→ I 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

with respect to important characters, I 1872

have existed, according to

our

theory, for an immense period in nearly the same state; and thus it →comes to be

more variable than any other structure. It is only in those cases in which the modification has been comparatively recent and extraordinarily great that we ought to find the generative

variability,

variability ,

as it may be called, still present in a high →degree. For in this case the variability will seldom as yet have been fixed by the continued selection of the individuals varying in the required manner and degree, and by the continued rejection of those tending to revert to a former and

less-modified

less modified

condition. →

The principle →included in these remarks may be →extended. It is notorious that specific characters are more variable than generic.

~~explain~~

~~simple~~

~~example~~

~~what~~

~~meant.~~

→If some species in a large genus of plants →had blue flowers and some had red, the colour would be only a specific character, and no one would be surprised at one of the blue species varying into red, or conversely; but if all the species had blue flowers, the colour would become a generic character, and its variation would be a more unusual circumstance. I have chosen this example because

the

explanation →is not in this case applicable, which most naturalists would

advance

advance,

→namely, that specific characters are more variable than generic, because they are taken from parts of less physiological importance than those commonly used for classing genera. I believe this explanation is partly, yet only indirectly, true; I shall, however, have to

re- turn

return

to this

point

subject

our

the

chapter on Classification. It would be almost superfluous to adduce evidence in support of the

~~above~~

above

statement, that

ordinary specific