286 THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 



has not revealed, is the former existence of infinitely numerous 

 gradations, as fine as existing varieties, connecting together 

 nearly all existing and extinct species. But this ought not to be 

 expected ; 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 Mediterranean, and from 

 Britain to Russia, and therefore equals all the geological forma- 

 tions 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 condition of the Malay Archi- 

 pelago, with its numerous large islands separated by wide and 

 shallow seas, probably represents the former state of Europe, 

 while most of our formations 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 imperfectly would they represent the natural history of the 

 world! 



But we have every reason to believe that the terrestrial pro- 

 ductions of the archipelago would be preserved in an extremely 

 Imperfect manner in the formations which we suppose to be 

 there accumulating. Not many of the strictly littoral animals, 

 or of those which lived on naked submarine rocks, would be em- 

 bedded; and those embedded in gravel or sand would not endure 

 to a distant epoch. Wherever sediment did not accumulate on the 

 bed of the sea, or where it did not accumulate at a sufficient rate to 

 protect organic bodies from decay, no remains could be preserved. 



Formations rich in fossils of many kinds, and of thickness 

 sufficient to last to an age as distant in futurity as the secondary 

 formations lie in the past, would generally be formed in the archi- 

 pelago only during periods of subsidence. These periods of sub- 

 sidence would be separated from each other by immense inter- 

 vals of time, during which the area would be either stationary or 

 rising; while rising, the fossiliferous formations on the steeper 

 shores would be destroyed, almost as soon as accumulated, by the 

 incessant coast-action, as we now see on the shores of South 

 America. Even throughout the extensive and shallow seas within 

 the archipelago, sedimentary beds could hardly be accumulated 

 of great thickness during the periods of elevation, or become 

 capped and protected by subsequent deposits, so as to have a 

 good chance of enduring to a very distant future. During the 



