Origin of Species Variorum

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

We meet with no such evidence, and this is the most obvious and forcible of the many objections which may be urged against my theory.

→ this appearance is 1869 1872

certainly they 1859 1860 1861 1866

→ Although we now know that organic beings appeared on this globe, at a period incalculably remote, long before the lowest bed 1866 1869 1872

Why do we not find great piles of strata beneath the Silurian system, stored with the remains 1859 1860 1861

→ Cambrian system was deposited, why do we not find beneath this system great piles of strata stored with the remains 1869 1872

progenitors 1859 1860 1861

Silurian system was deposited, why do we not find beneath this system great piles of strata stored with the remains 1866

→ progenitors of the Cambrian 1869 1872

Silurian groups of 1859 1860 1861

progenitors of the Silurian 1866

→ parent-form 1866 1869 1872

parent form of 1861

→ another and modified 1869 1872

any one or more 1859 1860

another 1861 1866

→ and owing to the imperfection of the geological record, we have no just right to 1869 1872

between their past or parent and present states; and these many links we could hardly ever 1859 1860

between their past and present states; and these many links we could hardly ever 1861 1866

→ find so many links. 1869 1872

discover, owing to the imperfection of the geological record. 1859 1860 1861 1866

→ by many naturalists as 1872

as 1861 1866 1869

→ whether or not 1869 1872

on the common view, whether or not 1859 1860 1861

whether or not on the common view 1866

→ ought to be called 1869 1872

are 1859 1860 1861 1866

older species, why is not every geological formation charged with such links? Why does not every collection of fossil remains afford plain evidence of the

graduation

gradation

and mutation of the forms of life? Although geological research has undoubtedly revealed the former existence of many links, bringing numerous forms of life much closer together, it does not yield the infinitely many fine

graduations

gradations

between past and present species required on

the

theory; and this is the most obvious

and forcible

....

of the many objections which may be urged against it. ↑ Why, again, do whole groups of allied species appear, though →this appearance is often

falsely

false,

appear,

....

to have come in suddenly on the

several

successive

geological stages? →Although we now know that organic beings appeared on this globe, at a period incalculably remote, long before the lowest bed of the →Cambrian system was deposited, why do we not find beneath this system great piles of strata stored with the remains of the →progenitors of the Cambrian fossils? For

certainly

....

the

theory

theory,

such strata must somewhere have been deposited at these ancient and utterly unknown epochs

the

worlds

world's

history.

I can answer these

question

questions

and

grave

....

objections only on the supposition that the geological record is far more imperfect than most geologists believe. The number of specimens in all our museums is absolutely as nothing compared with the countless generations of countless species which

certainly have

have certainly

existed. The →parent-form

any

of any

two or more species would not be in all its characters directly intermediate between its modified offspring, any more than the rock-pigeon is directly intermediate in crop and tail between its

descendants

descendants,

the pouter and fantail pigeons. We should not be able to recognise a species as the parent of →another and modified

species

species,

if we were to examine

them

both

the

ever

two ever

so closely, unless we

likewise

....

possessed

many

most

of the intermediate

links

links;

→and owing to the imperfection of the geological record, we have no just right to expect to →find so many links. If two or three, or even more linking forms were discovered, they would simply be ranked →by many naturalists as so many new species, more especially if found in different geological sub-stages, let their differences be ever so slight. Numerous existing doubtful forms could be named which are probably varieties; but who will pretend that in future ages so many fossil links will be discovered, that naturalists will be able to

decide,

decide

→whether or not these doubtful forms →ought to be called varieties? Only a small portion of the world has been

geological

geologically

explored. Only organic beings of certain classes can be preserved in a fossil condition, at least in any great number. Many species when once formed never undergo any further

change,

change

but become extinct