Origin of Species Variorum

→ in the scale of highness members of distinct types 1861 1866 1869

members of distinct types in the scale of highness 1872

→ these orders have been 1861 1866

orders are 1869

groups are 1872

→ at the present day of the lowest molluscs, more especially as the 1861

at the present day of the lowest molluses, more especially as the 1866

of the lowest molluscs, and the fact that our 1869

of brachiopods, and the fact that our 1872

number; but formerly selaceans and ganoids alone existed; and in this case, according to the standard of highness chosen, so will it be said that fishes have advanced or retrograded in organisation. To attempt to compare →in the scale of highness members of distinct types

seemed

seems

hopeless;

hopeless:

who will decide whether a

cuttle-fish

cuttlefish

be higher than a bee— that insect which the great Von Baer believed to be "in fact more highly organised than a fish, although upon another type"? In the complex struggle for life it is quite credible that crustaceans,

~~for instance,~~

for instance,

not very high in their own class, might beat

~~the~~

the

cephalopods,

cephalopods

the

highest

molluses;

molluscs;

and such crustaceans, though not highly developed, would stand very high in the scale of invertebrate

animals,

animals

if judged by the most decisive of all trials— the law of battle. Besides these inherent difficulties in deciding which forms are the most advanced in organisation, we ought not solely to compare the highest members of a class at any two

~~distant~~

distant

periods— though undoubtedly this is one and perhaps the most important element in striking a balance— but we ought to compare all the members, high and low, at the two periods. At an ancient epoch the highest and lowest

molluses,

molluscoidal animals,

molluscs,

namely, cephalopods and brachiopods, swarmed in

numbers;

numbers:

at the present time both →these orders have been greatly reduced,

whilst

whereas

others,

other

~~orders,~~