Origin of Species Variorum

→ epoch. Wherever sediment did not accumulate on the bed of the sea, or where it did not accumulate at a sufficient rate to protect organic bodies from decay, no remains could be preserved. 1872

epoch. 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

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

Wherever sediment did not accumulate on the bed of the sea, or where it did not accumulate at a sufficient rate to protect organic bodies from decay, no remains could be preserved.

→ Formations rich in fossils of many kinds, and of thickness sufficient 1869 1872

In our archipelago, I believe that fossiliferous formations could be formed of sufficient thickness 1859

I believe that fossiliferous formations could be formed in the archipelago, of thickness sufficient 1860

As the common rule formations rich in fossils would be formed in the archipelago, of thickness sufficient 1861

Formations rich in fossils, and of thickness sufficient 1866

→ would generally be formed in the archipelago only 1866 1869 1872

only 1859 1860 1861

→ of time, during 1866 1869 1872

during 1859 1860 1861

→ on the steeper shores would 1861 1866 1869 1872

would 1859 1860

→ America. 1859 1860 1872

America; even throughout the extensive and shallow seas within the archipelago sedimentary beds could not, during the periods of elevation, be accumulated of great thickness, or become capped and protected by subsequent deposits, so as to have a good chance of enduring to an extremely distant future. 1861 1866

America; even throughout the extensive and shallow seas within the archipelago sedimentary beds could hardly be accumulated of great thickness during the periods of elevation, or become capped and protected by subsequent deposits, so as to have a good chance of enduring to a very distant future. 1869

→ new, though closely allied 1872

distinct 1859 1860 1861 1866

new and distinct 1869

→ plainly leads to the 1861 1866 1869 1872

leads me to 1859 1860

→ though only some of them, which 1866 1869 1872

which 1859 1860 1861

animals, or of those which lived on naked submarine rocks, would be embedded; and those embedded in gravel or

sand,

sand

would not endure to a distant →epoch. Wherever sediment did not accumulate on the bed of the sea, or where it did not accumulate at a sufficient rate to protect organic bodies from decay, no remains could be preserved. ↑

→Formations rich in fossils of many kinds, and of thickness sufficient to last to an

age,

age

as distant in futurity as the secondary formations lie in the past, →would generally be formed in the archipelago only during periods of subsidence. These periods of subsidence would be separated from each other by

enormous

immense

intervals,

intervals

→of time, during which the area would be either stationary or rising; whilst rising,

each

the

fossiliferous

formation

formations

→on the steeper shores would be destroyed, almost as soon as accumulated, by the incessant coast-action, as we now see on the shores of South →America. Even throughout the extensive and shallow seas within the archipelago, sedimentary beds could hardly be accumulated of great thickness during the periods of elevation, or become capped and protected by subsequent deposits, so as to have a good chance of enduring to a very distant future. During the periods of

subsidence

subsidence,

there would probably be much extinction of life; during the periods of elevation, there would be much variation, but the geological record would then be

least

less

perfect.

It may be doubted whether the duration of any one great period of subsidence over the whole or part of the archipelago, together with a contemporaneous accumulation of sediment, would

exceed

exceed

the average duration of the same specific forms; and these contingencies are indispensable for the preservation of all the transitional gradations between any two or more species. If such gradations were not

fully

all fully

preserved, transitional varieties would merely appear as so many →new, though closely allied species. It

is,

also,

also

probable that each great period of subsidence would be interrupted by oscillations of level, and that slight climatal changes would intervene during such lengthy periods; and in these cases the inhabitants of the archipelago would

have to

....

migrate, and no closely consecutive record of their modifications could be preserved in any one formation.

Very many of the marine inhabitants of the archipelago now range thousands of miles beyond its confines; and analogy →plainly leads to the

believe

belief

that it would be chiefly these far-ranging

species

species,

→though only some of them, which 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