Origin of Species Variorum

→ OMIT 1869 1872

in any great degree; 1859 1860 1861 1866

→ are. 1869 1872

see them to be. 1859 1860 1861 1866

→ their very long 1869 1872

so long an 1859 1860 1861 1866

→ or beaks, which 1869 1872

which 1859 1860 1861 1866

→ would be the chance 1872

would the chance be 1859 1860 1861 1866

the chance would be 1869

→ Out of a hundred kinds of 1872

I do not doubt that out of twenty 1859 1860

Out of twenty 1861 1866

Out of a hundred 1869

→ OMIT 1872

as it seems to me, 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

had found large fragments of granite and other rocks, which do not occur in the archipelago. Hence we may safely infer that icebergs formerly landed their rocky burthens on the shores of these mid-ocean islands, and it is at least possible that they may have brought thither

the

some few

seeds of northern plants.

Considering that

the

these

several

above

....

means of transport, and that

several

....

other means, which without doubt remain to be discovered, have been in action year after

year,

year

for

centuries and

....

tens of thousands of years, it

would

would,

think

think,

be a marvellous fact if many plants had not thus become widely transported. These means of transport are

some-times

sometimes

called accidental, but this is not strictly correct: the currents of the sea are not

accidental

accidental,

nor is the direction of prevalent gales of wind. It should be observed that scarcely any means of transport would carry seeds for very great

distances;

distances:

for seeds do not retain their vitality when exposed for a great length of time to the action of sea-water; nor could they be long carried in the crops or intestines of birds. These means, however, would suffice for occasional transport across tracts of sea some hundred miles in breadth, or from island to island, or from a continent to a neighbouring island, but not from one distant continent to another. The floras of distant continents would not by such means become

mingled

mingled;

→OMIT but would remain as distinct as

they

now →are. The currents, from their course, would never bring seeds from North America to Britain, though they might and do bring seeds from the West Indies to our western shores, where, if not killed by →their very long immersion in

salt-water,

salt water,

they could not endure our climate. Almost every year, one or two land-birds are blown across the whole Atlantic Ocean, from North America to the western shores of Ireland and England; but seeds could be transported by these

wanderers

rare wanderers

only by one means, namely,

dirt

sticking

adhering

to their

feet,

feet

→or beaks, which is in itself a rare accident. Even in this case, how small →would be the chance of a seed falling on favourable soil, and coming to maturity! But it would be a great error to argue that because a well-stocked island, like Great Britain, has not, as far as is known (and it would be very difficult to prove this), received within the last few centuries, through occasional means of transport, immigrants from Europe or any other continent, that a poorly-stocked island, though standing more remote from the mainland, would not receive colonists by similar means. →Out of a hundred kinds of seeds or animals transported to an island, even if far less well-stocked than Britain,

scarcely

perhaps not

more than one would be so well fitted to its new home, as to become naturalised. But

this,

this

→OMIT is no valid argument against what would be effected by occasional means