| → within each class thus 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
| thus 1859 1860 |
|
| → spread they are 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| they are spread 1869 1872 |
|
| → A few 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| Some few 1869 |
| As some few of the 1872 |
|
| → old 1859 1860 1861 1866 1872 |
| of these old 1869 |
|
| → parent-forms having occasionally 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| forms having 1869 |
| forms have 1872 |
|
| → will give to us 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| constitute 1869 |
| these constitute 1872 |
|
| → on my theory 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| OMIT 1869 1872 |
|
|
On
the
Nature
of
the
Affinities
connecting
Organic
Beings
.—
|
| As the modified descendants of dominant
belonging to the larger genera, tend to inherit the
which made the groups to which they belong large and their parents dominant, they are almost sure to spread widely, and to seize on more and more places in the economy of nature. The larger and more dominant groups
→within each class thus
tend to go on increasing in size; and they consequently supplant many smaller and feebler groups. Thus we can account for the fact that all organisms, recent and extinct, are included under a few great orders,
still fewer
As showing how few the higher groups are in number, and how widely
→spread they are
throughout the world, the fact is
that the discovery of Australia has not added
insect belonging to a new
and that in the vegetable kingdom, as I learn from Dr. Hooker, it has added only two or three
of small size. |
|
| In the chapter on
I attempted to show, on the principle of each group having generally diverged much in character during the long-continued process of modification, how it is that the more ancient forms of life often present characters in some
degree intermediate between existing groups.
→A few
→old
and intermediate
→parent-forms having occasionally
transmitted to the present day descendants but little modified,
→will give to us
our so-called osculant or aberrant
The more aberrant any form is, the greater must be the number of connecting forms which
→on my theory
have been exterminated and utterly lost. And we have some evidence of aberrant
having suffered severely from extinction, for they are
represented by extremely few species; and such species as do occur are generally very distinct from
|
