Origin of Species Variorum

→ so much variety and so little novelty? 1866 1869

so? 1859 1860 1861

so much variety and so little real novelty? 1872

→ sudden leap, 1866 1869

leap, 1859 1860 1861

great and sudden leap, 1872

→ short and sure though slow 1866 1869

the shortest and slowest 1859 1860

short and slow 1861

short and sure, though slow 1872

→ Importance, as affected by Natural Selection. 1869

importance .— 1859 1860 1861

Importance, as affected by Natural Selection. 1866

Importance, as affected by Natural Selection . 1872

→ the fittest, 1869 1872

individuals with any favourable variation, 1859 1860 1861 1866

→ the less well fitted individuals,—I have sometimes felt great difficulty in understanding the origin or formation of parts of little importance; almost as great, though of a very different kind, as in the case of the most perfect and complex organs. 1869

those with any unfavourable deviation of structure,— I have sometimes felt much difficulty in understanding the origin of simple parts, of which the importance does not seem sufficient to cause the preservation of successively varying individuals. 1859 1860 1861

those with any unfavourable deviation of structure,—I have sometimes felt much difficulty in understanding the origin of simple parts, of which the importance does not seem sufficient to cause the preservation of successively varying individuals. 1866

the less well-fitted individuals, 1872

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

I have sometimes felt as much difficulty, though of a very different kind, on this head, as in the case of an organ as perfect and complex as the eye.

→ the colour of the skin and hair of quadrupeds, which, 1861 1866 1869 1872

which, from determining the attacks of insects or 1859 1860

→ or from determining the attacks of insects, might 1861 1866 1869 1872

might 1859 1860

it,

nature

Nature

is prodigal in variety, but niggard in innovation. Why, on the theory of Creation, should

this

there

be →so much variety and so little novelty? Why should all the parts and organs of many independent beings, each supposed to have been separately created for its proper place in nature, be so

invariably

commonly

linked together by graduated steps? Why should not Nature

have

....

taken

take

leap

sudden leap

from structure to structure? On the theory of natural selection, we can clearly understand why she should not; for natural selection

can

....

act

acts

only by taking advantage of slight successive variations; she can never take a →sudden leap, but must advance by →short and sure though slow steps.

Organs

little

apparent

→ Importance, as affected by Natural Selection.

As natural selection acts by life and

death,—

death,—by

....

the

preservation

survival

of →the fittest, and by the destruction of →the less well fitted individuals,—I have sometimes felt great difficulty in understanding the origin or formation of parts of little importance; almost as great, though of a very different kind, as in the case of the most perfect and complex organs. ↑

In the first place, we are much too ignorant in regard to the whole economy of any one organic being, to say what slight modifications would be of importance or not. In a former chapter I have given instances of

most

very

trifling characters, such as the down on fruit and the colour of

the

its

flesh, →the colour of the skin and hair of quadrupeds, which, from being correlated with constitutional

differences,

differences

→or from determining the attacks of insects, might assuredly be acted on by natural selection. The tail of the giraffe looks like an artificially constructed fly-flapper; and it seems at first incredible that this could have been adapted for its present

purpose

pur- pose