Page:Darwinism by Alfred Wallace 1889.djvu/126

 throughout all geological time and in every part of the world. Land and water have been continually shifting their positions; some regions are undergoing subsidence with diminution of area, others elevation with extension of area; dry land has been converted into marshes, while marshes have been drained or have even been elevated into plateaux. Climate too has changed again and again, either through the elevation of mountains in high latitudes leading to the accumulation of snow and ice, or by a change in the direction of winds and ocean currents produced by the subsidence or elevation of lands which connected continents and divided oceans. Again, along with all these changes have come not less important changes in the distribution of species. Vegetation has been greatly modified by changes of climate and of altitude; while every union of lands before separated has led to extensive migrations of animals into new countries, disturbing the balance that before existed among its forms of life, leading to the extermination of some species and the increase of others.

When such physical changes as these have taken place, it is evident that many species must either become modified or cease to exist. When the vegetation has changed in character the herbivorous animals must become able to live on new and perhaps less nutritious food; while the change from a damp to a dry climate may necessitate migration at certain periods to escape destruction by drought. This will expose the species to new dangers, and require special modifications of structure to meet them. Greater swiftness, increased cunning, nocturnal habits, change of colour, or the power of climbing trees and living for a time on their foliage or fruit, may be the means adopted by different species to bring themselves into harmony with the new conditions; and by the continued survival of those individuals, only, which varied sufficiently in the right direction, the necessary modifications of structure or of function would be brought about, just as surely as man has been able to breed the greyhound to hunt by sight and the foxhound by scent, or has produced from the same wild plant such distinct forms as the cauliflower and the brussels sprouts.

We will now consider the special characteristics of the changes in species that are likely to be effected, and how far they agree with what we observe in nature.