Origin of Species Variorum

→ for life, any 1859 1860 1861 1866

OMIT 1869 1872

→ its physical conditions of life, 1861 1866

external nature, 1859 1860

their physical conditions of life, 1869 1872

↑ 1 blocks not present in 1859 1860 1861 1866; present in 1869 1872

But the expression often used by Mr. Herbert Spencer of the Survival of the Fittest is more accurate, and is sometimes equally convenient.

the woodpecker and

missletoe;

the misletoe;

the mistletoe;

and only a little less plainly in the humblest parasite which clings to the hairs of a quadruped or feathers of a

bird:

bird;

in the structure of the beetle which dives through the

water:

water;

in the plumed seed which is wafted by the gentlest breeze; in short, we see beautiful adaptations everywhere and in every part of the organic world.

Again, it may be asked, how is it that varieties, which I have called incipient species, become ultimately converted into good and distinct species, which in most cases obviously differ from each other far more than do the varieties of the same species? How do those groups of species, which constitute what are called distinct genera, and which differ from each other more than do the species of the same genus, arise? All these results, as we shall more fully see in the next chapter, follow

inevitably

....

from the struggle for life. Owing to this

struggle,

struggle

→for life, any

variations,

variation,

however

slight

slight,

and from whatever cause proceeding, if

they

be in any degree profitable to

the

individuals

individual

any

species, in

their

its

infinitely complex relations to other organic beings and to →its physical conditions of life, will tend to the preservation of

such

that

individuals,

individual,

and will generally be inherited by

the

its

offspring. The offspring, also, will thus have a better chance of surviving, for, of the many individuals of any species which are periodically born, but a small number can survive. I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term

....

Natural Selection, in order to mark its relation to

mans

man's

power of selection. ↑ We have seen that man by selection can certainly produce great results, and can adapt organic beings to his own uses, through the accumulation of slight but

use- ful

useful

variations, given to him by the hand of Nature. But Natural Selection, as we shall hereafter see, is a power incessantly ready for action,