| → If 1859 1860 1861 |
| We may therefore conclude that if 1866 |
|
| → one quarter of 1859 1860 1861 |
| OMIT 1866 |
|
| → same or some other quarter, the eocene fauna or flora would certainly 1859 1860 1861 |
| former would 1866 |
|
| → but in my judgment I can, after having read the discussions on this subject by Lyell, and Hooker's views in regard to plants, concur only to a limited extent. 1861 |
| but in my judgment I cannot, after having read the discussions on this subject by Lyell, Bronn, and Hooker, look at this conclusion as fully proved, though highly probable. 1866 |
| and I suppose that the answer must be admitted as true, though difficult of full proof. 1869 |
| and it seems that this answer must be admitted as true, though difficult of proof. 1872 |
|
| ↑ 6 blocks not present in 1861 1866 1869 1872; present in 1859 1860 |
| I do not doubt that this process of improvement has affected in a marked and sensible manner the organisation of the more recent and victorious forms of life, in comparison with the ancient and beaten forms; but I can see no way of testing this sort of progress.
Crustaceans, for instance, not the highest in their own class, may have beaten the highest molluscs.
From the extraordinary manner in which European productions have recently spread over New Zealand, and have seized on places which must have been previously occupied, we may believe, if all the animals and plants of Great Britain were set free in New Zealand, that in the course of time a multitude of British forms would become thoroughly naturalized there, and would exterminate many of the natives.
On the other hand, from what we see now occurring in New Zealand, and from hardly a single inhabitant of the southern hemisphere having become wild in any part of Europe, we may doubt, if all the productions of New Zealand were set free in Great Britain, whether any considerable number would be enabled to seize on places now occupied by our native plants and animals.
Under this point of view, the productions of Great Britain may be said to be higher than those of New Zealand.
Yet the most skilful naturalist from an examination of the species of the two countries could not have foreseen this result.
|
|
| ↑ 2 blocks not present in 1859 1860 1861; present in 1866 1869 1872 |
| It is no valid objection to this conclusion
or to the general belief that species in the course of time change,
that certain Brachiopods have been but slightly modified from an extremely remote geological period, although no explanation can be given of this fact.
It is not an insuperable difficulty that Foraminifera have not
progressed in organisation,
as insisted on by Dr. Carpenter, since that most ancient of all epochs
the Laurentian formation of Canada;
for some organisms would have to remain fitted for simple conditions of life, and what better
for this end than these lowly organised Protozoa?
|
|
| ↑ 1 blocks not present in 1859 1860 1861 1872; present in 1866 1869 |
| It is no great difficulty that fresh-water shells, as Professor Phillips has remarked,
have remained almost unaltered from the time when they first appeared to the present day; but in this case we can see that
these shells will have been subjected to less severe competition than the molluses
which
inhabit
the far
more extensive area of the sea with its innumerable inhabitants.
|
|
| → is 1861 |
| whether organisation on the whole has advanced is 1866 1869 1872 |
|
| → as I believe, 1861 1866 1869 |
| OMIT 1872 |
|
| → are 1861 1866 1869 |
| ought to be ranked as 1872 |
|
| → highest: 1861 1872 |
| to be ranked as highest: 1866 1869 |
|
