On the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin, Part 4
Boring Books for Bedtime Readings to Help You Sleep
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The Slowest Breeder of All Known Animals
The elephant is reckoned the slowest breeder of all known animals. Linnaeus calculated that if an annual plant produced only two seeds, and there is no plant so unproductive as this, then in twenty years there would be a million plants. Cases could be given of introduced plants which have become common throughout whole islands in a period of less than ten years. Their geometrical ratio of increase simply explains their extraordinarily rapid diffusion in their new homes.
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