Origin of Species Variorum

Comparison with 1872

and such success seems to me improbable in the highest degree.

It has been asserted over and over again, by writers who believe in the immutability of species, that geology has yielded no linking forms. This assertion, as we shall see in the next chapter, is certainly erroneous. As Mr. Lubbock has recently remarked, "Every species is a link between other allied forms." If we take a genus having a score of species, recent and extinct, and destroy four-fifths of them, ... no one will doubt that the remainder will stand much more distinct from each other. If the extreme forms in the genus happen to have been thus destroyed, the genus itself ... will stand more distinct from other allied genera. ↑ What geological research has not revealed, is the former existence of infinitely numerous gradations, as fine as existing varieties, connecting together nearly all existing and extinct species. But this ought not to be expected; yet this has been repeatedly advanced as a most serious objection against my views. ↑

It may be worth while to sum up the foregoing remarks, under an imaginary illustration. The Malay Archipelago is of about the size of Europe from the North Cape to the Mediterranean, and from Britain to Russia; and therefore equals all the geological

and such success is improbable in the highest degree.

It has been asserted over and over again, by writers who believe in the immutability of species, that geology .. yields no linking forms. This assertion is entirely erroneous. As Sir J. Lubbock has .. remarked, "Every species is a link between other allied forms." We clearly see this if we take a genus having a score of recent and extinct species and destroy four-fifths of them; for in this case no one .. doubts that the remainder will stand much more distinct from each other. If the extreme forms in the genus happen to have been thus destroyed, the genus itself in most cases will stand more distinct from other allied genera. The camel and the pig, or the horse and the tapir, are now obviously very distinct forms; but if we add the several fossil quadrupeds which have already been discovered to the families including the camel and pig, these forms become joined by links not extremely wide apart. The chain of linking forms does not, however, in these cases, or in any case, run straight from the one living form to the other, but takes a circuitous sweep through the forms which lived during long-past ages. What geological research has not revealed is the former existence of infinitely numerous gradations, as fine as existing varieties, connecting all known species. And this not having been effected by geology is the most obvious of the many objections which may be urged against my views. ↑

Hence it will be worth while to sum up the fore-going remarks on the causes of the imperfection of the geological record under an imaginary illustration. The Malay Archipelago is .. about the size of Europe from the North Cape to the Mediterranean, and from Britain to Russia; and therefore equals all the geological