Origin of Species Variorum

→ p 14 , 1859 1861 1866 1869 1872

p 14 1860

→ f 14 , 1859 1861 1866 1869 1872

f 14 1860

→ m 14 , 1859 1861 1866 1869 1872

m 14 1860

→ differing 1869 1872

and as these latter two genera, both from continued divergence of character and from inheritance from a different parent, will differ 1859 1860 1861 1866

→ descendants of (A). These two 1869 1872

three genera descended from (A), the two little 1859 1860 1861 1866

→ some 1869 1872

one species of a 1859 1860 1861 1866

to refer again to this subject, and I think we shall then see that the diagram throws light on the affinities of extinct beings, which, though generally belonging to the same orders,

families, or genera, with those now living, yet are often, in some degree, intermediate in character between existing groups; and we can understand this fact, for the extinct species lived at

various remote

very ancient

epochs when the branching lines of descent had diverged less.

I see no reason to limit the process of modification, as now explained, to the formation of genera alone. If, in

our

the

diagram, we suppose the amount of change represented by each successive group of diverging dotted lines to be

very

....

great, the forms marked a 14 to → p 14 ,

, those

those

marked b 14 and → f 14 ,

, and

and

those marked o 14 to → m 14 ,

, will

will

form three very distinct genera. We shall also have two very distinct genera descended from

(I);

(I),

→differing widely from the →descendants of (A). These two groups of genera will

form

thus form

two distinct families, or

even

....

orders, according to the amount of divergent modification supposed to be represented in the diagram. And the two new families, or orders,

will have

are

descended from two species of the original

genus;

genus,

and these

two species

....

are supposed to

have

descended from →some still more ancient and unknown

genus.

form.

We have seen that in each country it is the species

belonging to

the larger genera which oftenest present varieties or incipient species. This, indeed, might have been expected;

for,

for

as natural selection acts through one form having some advantage over other forms in the struggle for existence, it will chiefly act on those which already have some advantage; and the largeness of any group shows that its species have inherited from a common ancestor some advantage in common. Hence,