Origin of Species… • 15. Recapitulation and conclusion (20)

≣  •  D a r w i n  (1 8 5 9,  1 8 7 2⁶)  •  15.  R e c a p i t u l a t i o n  a n d  c o n c l u s i o n  •  √it

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On the view that species are only strongly marked and permanent varieties, and that each species first existed as a variety, we can see why it is that no line of demarcation can be drawn between species, commonly supposed to have been produced by special acts of creation, and varieties which are acknowledged to have been produced by secondary laws. On this same view we can understand how it is that in a region where many species of a genus have been produced, and where they now flourish, these same species should present many varieties; for where the manufactory of species has been active, we might expect, as a general rule, to find it still in action; and this is the case if varieties be incipient species. Moreover, the species of the larger genera, which afford the greater number of varieties or incipient species, retain to a certain degree the character of varieties; for they differ from each other by a less amount of difference than do the species of smaller genera. The closely allied species also of the larger genera apparently have restricted ranges, and in their affinities they are clustered in little groups round other species — in both respects resembling varieties. These are strange relations on the view that each species was independently created, but are intelligible if each existed first as a variety.

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[]  C h.  D a r w i n,  ‹T h e  O r i g i n  o f  S p e c i e s›,  J o h n  M u r r a y,  1 8 7 2⁶.
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