[On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin]@TWC D-Link bookOn the Origin of Species CHAPTER XII 42/45
But the species left during a long time on these mountains, or in opposite hemispheres, would have to compete with many new forms and would be exposed to somewhat different physical conditions; hence, they would be eminently liable to modification, and would generally now exist as varieties or as representative species; and this is the case.
We must, also, bear in mind the occurrence in both hemispheres of former Glacial periods; for these will account, in accordance with the same principles, for the many quite distinct species inhabiting the same widely separated areas, and belonging to genera not now found in the intermediate torrid zones. It is a remarkable fact, strongly insisted on by Hooker in regard to America, and by Alph.de Candolle in regard to Australia, that many more identical or slightly modified species have migrated from the north to the south, than in a reversed direction.
We see, however, a few southern forms on the mountains of Borneo and Abyssinia.
I suspect that this preponderant migration from the north to the south is due to the greater extent of land in the north, and to the northern forms having existed in their own homes in greater numbers, and having consequently been advanced through natural selection and competition to a higher stage of perfection, or dominating power, than the southern forms.
And thus, when the two sets became commingled in the equatorial regions, during the alternations of the Glacial periods, the northern forms were the more powerful and were able to hold their places on the mountains, and afterwards migrate southward with the southern forms; but not so the southern in regard to the northern forms.
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