Origin of Species Variorum

→ So that it will perhaps be safest to look at 1861 1866

There is not sufficient evidence to induce us to believe that mutilations are ever inherited; and I should prefer explaining 1859

There is not sufficient evidence to induce me to believe that mutilations are ever inherited; and I should prefer explaining 1860

Hence it will perhaps be safest to look at 1869 1872

→ as due to the long-continued 1861 1866

by the long-continued 1859 1860

as due to the 1869

not as cases of inherited mutilations, but as due to the 1872

→ disuse in their progenitors; 1859 1860 1861 1866

long-continued disuse; 1869 1872

→ the tarsi are almost always lost in 1859 1860 1861 1866

OMIT 1869 1872

→ they must be lost 1859 1860 1861 1866

are generally found with their tarsi lost, this must happen 1869 1872

→ cannot 1859 1860 1861 1866

the tarsi cannot be of much importance or 1869 1872

→ of much importance or be much 1861 1866

much 1859 1860 1869 1872

→ (but more are now known) which inhabit 1866 1869

inhabiting 1859 1860 1861

(but more are now known) inhabiting 1872

→ of the almost entire absence of 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

that 1872

→ groups have habits of life almost necessitating frequent flight; — 1866 1869

groups have habits of life almost necessitating frequent flight;— 1859 1860 1861

absolutely require the use of their wings, are here almost entirely absent;— 1872

→So that it will perhaps be safest to look at the entire absence of the anterior tarsi in Ateuchus, and their rudimentary condition in some other genera, →as due to the long-continued effects of →disuse in their progenitors; for as →the tarsi are almost always lost in many dung-feeding

beetles

beetles,

→they must be lost early in

life;

life,

~~and~~

and

therefore →cannot be →of much importance or be much used by these insects.

In some cases we might easily put down to disuse modifications of structure which are wholly, or mainly, due to natural selection. Mr. Wollaston has discovered the remarkable fact that 200

beetles

beetles,

out of the 550 species →(but more are now known) which inhabit

Madeira

Madeira,

are so far deficient in wings that they cannot fly; and

that

that,

of the twenty-nine endemic genera, no less than twenty-three

~~genera~~

genera

have all their species in this condition! Several

facts,—

facts,

namely,

— namely,

that beetles in many parts of the world are

very

....

frequently blown to sea and perish; that the beetles in Madeira, as observed by Mr. Wollaston, lie much

con-

....

cealed,

concealed,

until the wind lulls and the sun shines; that the proportion of wingless beetles is larger on the exposed

Dezertas

Desertas

than in Madeira itself; and especially the extraordinary fact, so strongly insisted on by Mr. Wollaston, →of the almost entire absence of certain large groups of beetles, elsewhere excessively numerous,

~~and~~

and

which →groups have habits of life almost necessitating frequent flight; — these several considerations

~~have~~

have

make

made

me believe that the wingless condition of so many Madeira beetles is mainly due to the action of natural selection,

~~but~~

but

combined probably with disuse. For during

thousands of

many

successive generations each individual beetle which flew least, either from its wings having been ever so little less perfectly developed or from indolent habit, will have had the best chance of surviving from not