Image: Darwins first tree

Description: Charles Darwin's 1837 sketch, his first diagram of an evolutionary tree from his First Notebook on Transmutation of Species (1837) on view at the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. Text: I think [graph] B D C 1 A Case must be that one generation then should be as many living as now. To do this & to have many species in same genus (as is) requires extinction. The text continues outside the image: Thus between A & B immense gap of relation. C & B the finest gradation, B & D rather greater distinction. Thus genera would be formed. — bearing relation (page 37) to ancient types. — with several extinct forms for if each species an ancient (1) is capable of making 13 recent forms, twelve of the contemporarys must have left no offspring at all, so as to keep number of species constant. — With respect to extinction we can easy see that variety of ostrich, Petise may not be well adapted, and thus perish out, or on other hand like Orpheus being favourable (page 38) many might be produced. — This requires principle that the permanent varieties produced by inter confined breeding & changing circumstances are continued & produced according to the adaptation of such circumstances, & therefore that death of species is a consequence (contrary to what would appear from America). Source of this text: User fileunderwater at https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/46481/darwins-first-sketch-of-a-phylogenetic-tree , consulted on 26 April 2021.
Title: Darwins first tree
Credit: HTML / JPG
Author: Charles Darwin
Permission: This file was reviewed on 27 May 2009 by the administrator or trusted user NuclearWarfare (talk), who confirmed the Public Domain status on that date.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No