Very many of the marine inhabitants of the archipelago now range thousands of miles beyond its confines; and analogy
leads me to leads me to 1859 1860 |
plainly leads to the 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
believe believe 1859 1860 | belief 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
that it would be chiefly these far-ranging
species species 1859 1860 1861 | species, 1866 1869 1872 |
which which 1859 1860 1861 |
though only some of them, which 1866 1869 1872 |
would oftenest produce new varieties; and the varieties would at first generally
be local or confined to one place, but if possessed of any decided advantage, or when further modified and improved, they would slowly spread and supplant their parent-forms. When such varieties returned to their ancient homes, as they would differ from their former state,
in a nearly uniform, though perhaps extremely slight degree,
they they 1859 1860 |
and as they would be found embedded in slightly different sub-stages of the same formation, they 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
would, according to the principles followed by many palæontologists, be ranked as new and distinct species. |
If
then, then, 1859 1860 | then 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
there be some degree of truth in these remarks, we have no right to expect to
find find 1859 1860 1861 | find, 1866 1869 1872 |
in our geological formations, an infinite number of those fine transitional
forms, forms, 1859 1860 | forms 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
which which 1859 1860 | which, 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
on
my my 1859 1860 1861 1866 | our 1869 1872 |
theory theory 1859 1860 | theory, 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
assuredly assuredly 1859 1860 | assuredly 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
have connected all the past and present species of the same group into one long and branching chain of life. We ought only to look for a few links,
some more closely, some more closely, 1859 1860 |
and such assuredly we do find— 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
some more
distantly distantly 1859 1860 | distantly, 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
related related 1859 1860 |
some more closely, related 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
to each other; and these links, let them be ever so close, if found in different stages of the same formation, would, by
most most 1859 1860 | many 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
palæonto- logists, palæonto- logists, 1859 | palæontologists, 1860 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
be ranked as distinct species. But I do not pretend that I should ever have suspected how poor
a record of the mutations of life, a record of the mutations of life, 1859 1860 |
a record of the mutations of life 1861 1866 |
was the record in 1869 1872 |
the best preserved
geological
section section 1859 1860 1861 1866 | sections, 1869 1872 |
presented, presented, 1859 1860 1861 | would present, 1866 | presented, 1869 1872 |
had not the
|