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have been recently 1869 1872
recently have been 1859 1860 1861 1866

in the level of the land or sea; 1869 1872
of level in our continents; 1859 1860 1861 1866

of our continents, as 1869 1872
as 1859 1860 1861 1866

migration. 1859 1861 1866 1869 1872
migration. In the coral-producing oceans such sunken islands are now marked, as I believe, by rings of coral or atolls standing over them. 1860

In the coral-producing oceans such sunken islands are now marked 1861 1866 1869 1872
In the coral-producing oceans such sunken islands are now marked, 1859
Whenever it is fully admitted, 1860

OMIT 1861 1866 1869 1872
as I believe, 1859
as I believe 1860

by rings of coral or atolls standing over them. 1859 1861 1866 1869 1872
it will some day be, that each species has proceeded from a single birthplace, and when in the course of time we know something definite about the means of distribution, we shall be enabled to speculate with security on the former extension of the land. 1860

faunas will now blend
together, or
or
may formerly have
blended.
blended:
Where
where
the sea now extends, land may at
a
....
former
period
periods
have connected islands or possibly even continents together, and thus have allowed terrestrial productions to pass from one to the other. No geologist
will
will
disputes
dispute
that great mutations of
level,
level
have occurred within the period of existing organisms. Edward Forbes insisted that all the islands in the Atlantic must have been recently connected with Europe or Africa, and Europe likewise with America. Other authors have thus hypothetically bridged over every ocean, and
have
....
united almost every island to some mainland. If indeed the arguments used by Forbes are to be trusted, it must be admitted that scarcely a single island exists which has not recently been united to some continent. This view cuts the Gordian knot of the dispersal of the same species to the most distant points, and removes many a
difficulty;
difficulty:
but to the best of my judgment we are not authorized in admitting such enormous geographical changes within the period of existing species. It seems to me that we have abundant evidence of great oscillations in the level of the land or sea; but not of such vast changes in
their
the
position and
extension,
extension
of our continents, as to have united them within the recent period to each other and to the several intervening oceanic islands. I freely admit the former existence of many islands, now buried beneath the sea, which may have served as
halting places
halting- places
halting-places
for plants and for many animals during their migration. In the coral-producing oceans such sunken islands are now marked OMIT by rings of coral or atolls standing over them. Whenever it is fully admitted, as
I believe
no doubt
no doubt
it will some day be, that each species has proceeded from a single birthplace, and when in the course of time we know something definite about the means of distribution, we shall be enabled to