PART VII 



Studies of the Kinds of Plants 



LXXXIV. SPECIES 



544. Plants live where and how they must. 

 They adapt themselves to conditions by varying. 

 It must generally happen that the most marked 

 variations tend to persist, because most unlike 

 others, and therefore better able to find places of 

 least competition. The intermediates must tend 

 to die out. In time thei'e come to be wide diver- 

 gencies or differences ; or, different kinds have 

 originated. 



545. It was once supposed that these kinds 

 were created as they are in the beginning. These 

 kinds were conceived, therefore, to be original units 

 or entities in nature ; and if they are real things, 

 remaining forever essentially the same, they must 

 have a name. They were called species. 



546. But there are various kinds and degrees of 

 differences, and there early arose dispute as to 

 what kinds are the real original species and what 



(425; 



