The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, 6th EditionDarwin, Charles
History
The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, 6th Edition
Darwin, Charles
Evolution (Biology); Natural selection
It should not, however, be overlooked that certain rather strongly
marked variations, which no one would rank as mere individual
differences, frequently recur owing to a similar organisation being
similarly acted on—of which fact numerous instances could be given with
our domestic productions. In such cases, if the varying individual did
not actually transmit to its offspring its newly-acquired character, it
would undoubtedly transmit to them, as long as the existing conditions
remained the same, a still stronger tendency to vary in the same
manner. There can also be little doubt that the tendency to vary in the
same manner has often been so strong that all the individuals of the
same species have been similarly modified without the aid of any form
of selection. Or only a third, fifth, or tenth part of the individuals
may have been thus affected, of which fact several instances could be
given. Thus Graba estimates that about one-fifth of the guillemots in
the Faroe Islands consist of a variety so well marked, that it was
formerly ranked as a distinct species under the name of Uria lacrymans.
In cases of this kind, if the variation were of a beneficial nature,
the original form would soon be supplanted by the modified form,
through the survival of the fittest.
To the effects of intercrossing in eliminating variations of all kinds,
I shall have to recur; but it may be here remarked that most animals
and plants keep to their proper homes, and do not needlessly wander
about; we see this even with migratory birds, which almost always
return to the same spot. Consequently each newly-formed variety would
generally be at first local, as seems to be the common rule with
varieties in a state of nature; so that similarly modified individuals
would soon exist in a small body together, and would often breed
together. If the new variety were successful in its battle for life, it
would slowly spread from a central district, competing with and
conquering the unchanged individuals on the margins of an
ever-increasing circle.
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