14 All the Articles of the Darwin Faith. 



i.e., those of widely separated species, produce sterile 

 hybrids, an.d I " cannot persuade myself that this parallel- 

 ism (!!!) is an accident or an illusion." 



I believe I am right, although I see that the widely 

 different forms of the pigeon among birds, and the cabbage 

 and other varieties among plants, are productive together, 

 while other species- " though resembling each other most 

 closely are utterly sterile when crossed," and I admit that 

 the former is " almost invariably the case." 



I believe that the "imperfection of the geological re- 

 cord," showing no regular chain of species, and so giving 

 no proof of my theory, and therefore the most obvious 

 and gravest objection which can be urged against 

 it, may nevertheless be assumed by me as conclusively 

 proving it. 



I believe that it is a sufficient answer to the question 

 what has become of the innumerable forms which must 

 have existed before the Silurian deposit, that " long before 

 that " the world " may have," then, " presented a totally 

 different aspect; " that the older continents, "may" now 

 "all be in a metamorphosed condition," or "may" " lie 

 buried under the ocean ; " that there has ' probably" been 



