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"A third great fact... is the affinity of the productions of the same continent or sea....
[T]he naturalist in travelling... from north to south never fails to be struck by the manner
in which successive groups of beings, specifically distinct, yet closely related, replace each other.
[Example: South American rodents are all related....]
If we look to the islands off the American shore, however much they may differ..., the inhabitants,
though they may be all peculiar species, are essentially American.
We may look back to past [geologic] ages..., and we find American types then prevalent on the American
continent and in the American seas. We see in these facts some deep organic bond, prevailing throughout space and time, over the same areas..., and independent of their physical conditions. The naturalist must feel little curiosity, who is not led to inquire what this bond is. This bond, on my theory, is simply inheritance, that cause which alone... produces organisms quite like, or... nearly like each other." |
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species..., p. 349-350
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