The genus Rosa, has many species; from the
variation of certain species our garden varieties
have accidentally arisen, although some of these
have been artificially obtained by cross-breeding
between two other varieties, or species.. Varieties
from species both of plants and animals are
found in a wild as well as in a domesticated
state. Albino, or white red-eyed rats, sparrows
blackbirds, etc., are constantly being caught.
The albinos of green birds are yellow, whence
our cage canary, whose wild progenitor is a green-
plumaged finch. The fields and the hedgerows
annually yield plants with variegated and mottled
leaves; less frequently, but still occasionally, with
torn or ragged leaves. Mr. Lubbock has recently
demonstrated that the muscles in the larvae of
certain insects are far from uniform.

Species are universally acknowledged to be
continually sending forth varieties, in greater
or less number, some more frequently than
others; and varieties to be varying to a slight
extent; indeed, their deficient permanency is
their chief characteristic. Man has often to
exert all his art to render them stationary and
permanent enough for his own convenience.
Genera are merely bundles of species arbitrarily
grouped together, and may at any time be
revised if science require. A large genus,
containing very dissimilar species, may be split into
two; or two very closely allied genera may be
united into one. Genera can be regarded as
fixed no further than the species of which they
are composed are fixed, and as the judgment of
scientific men shall decide to fix them.

What, then, is the nature of species—are they
immutable and permanent, or do they vary? Let
us call this, Question the First.

Question the Second. — What is the Origin of
Species?

To these questions (the second of which Is the
mystery of mysteries) opposing answers have
been given. The first is, that species are fixed,
and do not vary upon the whole, but transmit
their own identical qualities and forms to their
seed, or offspring, and will continue so to transmit
them to the end of time; that varieties
either die out, or revert to their original species,
or continue to vary within such narrow limils as
not to separate them from their parent species;
that cross- breeds between two distinct species
are barren and are unable to reproduce an
intermediate species that shall last and maintain its
ground without falling back to one parent species
or the other—this property is one that has been
assumed to decide whether a species is a
species, or a mere variety; varieties may
produce fertile offspring, and species not; and,
lastly, that each species, was originally and
independently created, as we now see it, by the fiat of
the Almighty Maker.

                                                 God said,
Let th' earth bring forth soul living in her kind,
Cattle and creeping things, and beast of th' earth,
Each in their kind. The Earth obey'd, and straight
Opening her fertile womb teem'd at birth
Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms,
Limb'd and full-grown: out of the ground up rose
As from his lair the wild beast where he wons
In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den;
The grassy clods now calv'd, now half appear'd
The tawny lion, pawing to get free
His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds,
And rampant shakes his brindled mane; the ounce,
The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole
Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw
In hillocks: the swift stag from under ground
Bare up his branching head.—-
At once came forth whatever creeps the ground,
Insect or worm.

But geologists have discovered that the earth
bears what seem to be traces of grand convulsions,
in which successive sets of living creatures
lie buried. Answer the First explains them by
admitting the convulsions (of which the last is
Noah's deluge), and by believing that each
successive fauna, or animal population of the world,
was called into being by a separate creative act of
the Great Artificer; that every animal and plant,
at its creation, was providentially and purposely
adapted to the circumstances in which it was
placed, and, needing no change, was susceptible
of none; that a species, like an individual, might
be swept away when its allotted term of existence
was completed, but could hardly be altered.
Answer the First agrees with the views
eloquently expressed in Paley's Natural Theology.
Authors of the highest eminence seem to be fully
satisfied with the view that each species of beast,
bird, insect, and plant, has been independently
created.

Answer the Second (which has been gradually
gaining ground and has obtained a fuller acceptance
amongst a limited group of scientific men)
tells us that we search in vain for the undiscovered
and undiscoverable essence of the term
species. Various definitions have been given;
but not one of them has as yet satisfied all
naturalists, although every naturalist knows vaguely
what he means when he speaks of a species.
Generally the term includes the unknown
element of a distinct act of creation. Every one
admits that there are at least individual
differences in species in a state of. nature; but
certainly no clear line of demarcation has as yet
been drawn between species and sub-species—
that is, the forms which in the opinion of some
naturalists come very near to, but do not quite
arrive at, the rank of species; or, again, between
sub-species and well-marked varieties, or between
lesser varieties and individual differences. These
differences blend into each other in an insensible
series; and a series impresses many minds with
the idea of an actual passage.

And here arises a point of considerable interest,
Is it logical, or is it not, to infer that,
because we behold a series of forms, there has been
an actual transition from one form to that next
above it? The whole dispute at issue rests
on the effect which this consideration has on the
mind. Some minds will accept the passage,
others will not. Every one will allow that a series
of plants can be made out, from the