Origin of Species Variorum

Comparison with 1872

migration across the low intervening tracts, since become too warm for their existence. ↑

The arctic forms, during their long southern migration and re-migration northward, will have been exposed during their long migrations to any great diversity of temperature; and, as they all migrated in a body together; consequently their mutual relations will not have been much disturbed, and, in accordance with the principles inculcated in this volume, they will not have been liable to much modification. But with our Alpine productions, left isolated from the moment of the returning warmth, first at the bases and ultimately on the summits of the mountains, the case will have been somewhat dif- ferent; for it is not likely that all the same arctic species will have been left on mountain ranges distant from each other, and have survived there ever since; they will also in all probability have become mingled with ancient Alpine species, which must have existed on the mountains before the commencement of the Glacial epoch, and which during the coldest period will have been temporarily driven down to the plains; they will, also, have been subsequently exposed to somewhat different climatal influences. Their mutual relations will thus have been in some degree disturbed; consequently they will have been liable to modification; and they have been modified; for if we compare the present Alpine plants and animals of the several great European mountain-ranges, though very many of the species remain identically the same, some present varieties, some are ranked as doubtful forms, or sub-species, and some as distinct yet closely allied or representative species.

In the foregoing illustration I have assumed that at the commencement

migration across the .. intervening lowlands, now become too warm for their existence. ↑

As the arctic forms moved first southward and afterwards backwards to the north, in unison with the changing climate, they will not have been exposed during their long migrations to any great diversity of temperature, and as they will all have migrated in a body together, .. their mutual relations will not have been much disturbed. Hence, in accordance with the principles inculcated in this volume, these forms will not have been liable to much modification. But with the Alpine productions, left isolated from the moment of the returning warmth, first at the bases and ultimately on the summits of the mountains, the case will have been somewhat .. different; for it is not likely that all the same arctic species will have been left on mountain-ranges far distant from each other, and have survived there ever since; they will, also, in all probability, have become mingled with ancient Alpine species, which must have existed on the mountains before the commencement of the Glacial epoch, and which during its coldest period will have been temporarily driven down to the plains; they will, also, have been exposed to somewhat different climatal influences. Their mutual relations will thus have been in some degree disturbed; consequently they will have been liable to modification; and this we find has been the case; for if we compare the present Alpine plants and animals of the several great European mountain-ranges one with another, though many of the species still remain identically the same, some exist as varieties, some .. as doubtful forms or sub-species, and some as certainly distinct yet closely allied species representing each other on the several ranges.

In illustrating what, as I believe, actually took place during the Glacial period, I have assumed that at its commencement