Origin of Species Variorum

→ two-thirds 1860 1861 1866 1869 1872

two thirds of 1859

→ OMIT 1860 1861 1866 1869 1872

the trees now growing on the 1859

→ which must formerly have been cleared of trees, now display 1860 1861 1866 1869 1872

display 1859

→ must 1869 1872

between the several kinds of trees must here 1859 1860 1861 1866

→ between the several kinds of trees, each 1869 1872

each 1859 1860 1861 1866

→ where each shall fall compared to that 1861 1866 1869 1872

compared to the action and reaction 1859 1860

→ action and reaction of the innumerable 1861 1866 1869 1872

innumerable 1859 1860

→ will almost invariably 1869 1872

almost invariably will 1859 1860 1861 1866

humble-bees, believes that "more than →two-thirds

them

of them

are thus destroyed all over England." Now the number of mice is largely dependent, as every one knows, on the number of cats; and

Mr. Newman

Col.Newman

Col. Newman

says, "Near villages and small towns I have found the nests of humble-bees more numerous than elsewhere, which I attribute to the

numbe

number

r of

cats that destroy the mice." Hence it is quite credible that the presence of a feline animal in large numbers in a district might determine, through the intervention first of mice and then of bees, the frequency of certain flowers in that district!

In the case of every species, many different checks, acting at different periods of life, and during different seasons or years, probably come into play; some one check or some few being generally the most

potent,

potent;

but all

concurring

concur

will concur

in determining the average number or even the existence of the species. In some cases it can be shown that widely-different checks act on the same species in different districts. When we look at the plants and bushes clothing an entangled bank, we are tempted to attribute their proportional numbers and kinds to what we call chance. But how false a view is this! Every one has heard that when an American forest is cut down, a very different vegetation springs up; but it has been observed that →OMIT ancient Indian

mounds,

ruins

in the Southern United States, →which must formerly have been cleared of trees, now display the same beautiful diversity and proportion of kinds as in the surrounding virgin

forests.

forest.

What a struggle →must have gone on during long

centuries,

centuries

→between the several kinds of trees, each annually scattering its seeds by the thousand; what war between insect and

insect—between

insect— between

insects, snails, and other animals with birds and beasts of

prey—all

prey—

~~all~~

all

striving to increase,

and

....

all feeding on each

other

other,

or on the

trees

trees,

....

their seeds and seedlings, or on the other plants which first clothed the ground and thus checked the growth of the trees! Throw up a handful of feathers, and all

must

....

fall to the ground according to definite laws; but how simple is

this

the

problem →where each shall fall compared to that of the →action and reaction of the innumerable plants and animals which have determined, in the course of centuries, the proportional numbers and kinds of trees now growing on the old Indian ruins!

The dependency of one organic being on another, as of a parasite on its prey, lies generally between beings remote in the scale of nature. This is

often

likewise sometimes

the case with those which may

strictly be

be strictly

said to struggle with each other for existence, as in the case of locusts and grass-feeding quadrupeds. But the struggle →will almost invariably be most severe between the individuals of the same species, for they frequent the same districts, require the same