Consequently each newly-formed variety would generally be at first
local, as seems to be the common rule with varieties in a state of nature;
so that similarly modified individuals would soon exist in a small body
together, and would often breed together. If the new variety were
successful in its battle for life, it would slowly spread from a central
district, competing with and conquering the unchanged individuals on the
margins of an ever-increasing circle.
It may be worth while to give another and more complex illustration of the
action of natural selection. Certain plants excrete sweet juice,
apparently for the sake of eliminating something injurious from the sap:
this is effected, for instance, by glands at the base of the stipules in
some Leguminosae, and at the backs of the leaves of the common laurel.
This juice, though small in quantity, is greedily sought by insects; but
their visits do not in any way benefit the plant. Now, let us suppose that
the juice or nectar was excreted from the inside of the flowers of a
certain number of plants of any species. Insects in seeking the nectar
would get dusted with pollen, and would often transport it from one flower
to another. The flowers of two distinct individuals of the same species
would thus get crossed; and the act of crossing, as can be fully proved,
gives rise to vigorous seedlings, which consequently would have the best
chance of flourishing and surviving.
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