Page - 352 - in The Origin of Species

352 ORIGIN OF SPECIES chologists as distinct species from their European representa- tives, and by other conchologists as only varieties, are really varieties, or are, as it is called, specifically distinct. This could be effected by the future geologist only by his discov- ering in a fossil state numerous intermediate gradations; and such success is improbable in the highest degree. It has been asserted over and over again, by writers who believe in the immutability of species, that geology yields no linking forms. This assertion, as we shall see in the next chapter, is certainly erroneous. As Sir J. Lubbock has re- marked, "Every species is a link between other allied forms." If we take a genus having a score of species, recent and ex- tinct, and destroy four-fifths of them, no one doubts that the remainder will stand much more distinct from each other. If the extreme forms in the genus happen to have been thus destroyed, the genus itself will stand more distinct from other allied genera. What geological research has not re- vealed, is the former existence of infinitely numerous grada- tions, as fine as existing varieties, connecting together nearly all existing and extinct species. But this ought not to be ex- pected; yet this has been repeatedly advanced as a most serious objection against my views. It may be worth while to sum up the foregoing remarks on the causes of the imperfection of the geological record under an imaginary illustration. The Malay Archipelago is about the size of Europe from the North Cape to the Mediter- ranean, and from Britain to Russia ; and therefore equals all the geological formations which have been examined with any accuracy, excepting those of the United States of America. I fully agree with Mr. Godwin-Austen, that the present con- dition of the Malay Archipelago, with its numerous large islands separated by wide and shallow seas, probably repre- sents the former state of Europe, whilst most of our forma- tions were accumulating. The Malay Archipelago is one of the richest regions in organic beings; yet if all the species were to be collected which have ever lived there, how im- perfectly would they represent the natural history of the world ! But we have every reason to believe that the terrestrial productions of the archipelago would be preserved in an ex-