Origin of Species Variorum

→ OMIT 1860 1861 1866 1869 1872

the trees now growing on the 1859

→ which must formerly have been cleared of trees, now display 1860 1861 1866 1869 1872

display 1859

→ between the several kinds of trees must here 1859 1860 1861 1866

must 1869 1872

→ each 1859 1860 1861 1866

between the several kinds of trees, each 1869 1872

→ where each shall fall compared to that 1861 1866 1869 1872

compared to the action and reaction 1859 1860

→ action and reaction of the innumerable 1861 1866 1869 1872

innumerable 1859 1860

acting at different periods of life, and during different seasons or years, probably come into play; some one check or some few being generally the most

potent;

potent,

but all

concurring

will concur

concur

in determining the average number or even the existence of the species. In some cases it can be shown that widely-different checks act on the same species in different districts. When we look at the plants and bushes clothing an entangled bank, we are tempted to attribute their proportional numbers and kinds to what we call chance. But how false a view is this! Every one has heard that when an American forest is cut down, a very different vegetation springs up; but it has been observed that →OMIT ancient Indian

mounds,

ruins

in the Southern United States, →which must formerly have been cleared of trees, now display the same beautiful diversity and proportion of kinds as in the surrounding virgin

forest.

forests.

What a struggle →between the several kinds of trees must here have gone on during long

centuries

centuries,

→each annually scattering its seeds by the thousand; what war between insect and

insect—between

insect— between

insects, snails, and other animals with birds and beasts of

prey—all

prey—

~~all~~

all

striving to increase,

~~and~~

and

all feeding on each

other

other,

or on the

trees

trees,

....

their seeds and seedlings, or on the other plants which first clothed the ground and thus checked the growth of the trees! Throw up a handful of feathers, and all

~~must~~

must

fall to the ground according to definite laws; but how simple is

this

the

problem →where each shall fall compared to that of the →action and reaction of the innumerable plants and animals which have determined, in the course of centuries, the proportional numbers and kinds of trees now growing on the old Indian ruins!

The dependency of one organic being on another, as of a parasite on its prey, lies generally between beings remote in the scale of nature. This is

likewise sometimes

often

the case