《物种起源》全名《论依据自然选择即在生存斗争中保存优良族的物种起源》（On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life），是英国生物学家查尔斯·达尔文系统阐述生物进化理论基础的生物学著作，1859年11月24日在伦敦出版。
该书中，达尔文根据20多年积累的对古生物学、生物地理学、形态学、胚胎学和分类学等许多领域的大量研究资料，以自然选择为中心，从变异性、遗传性、人工选择、生存竞争和适应等方面论证物种起源和生命自然界的多样性与统一性。 [1]
《物种起源》不仅开创了生物学发展史上的新纪元，使进化论思想渗透到自然科学的各个领域，而且引起了整个人类思想的巨大革命，在世界历史进程中有着广泛和深远的影响。
Table of Contents
PREFACE .............................................................................................. 001
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 015
CHAPTER I VARIATION UNDER
DOMESTICATION ........................................... 021
CAUSES OF VARIABILITY...............................................................022
EFFECTS OF HABIT AND OF THE USE OR DISUSE OF
PARTS; CORRELATED VARIATION; INHERITANCE .......027
CHARACTER OF DOMESTIC VARIETIES; DIFFICULTY
OF DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN VARIETIES AND
SPECIES; ORIGIN OF DOMESTIC VARIETIES FROM
ONE OR MORE SPECIES...............................................................032
BREEDS OF THE DOMESTIC PIGEON, THEIR
DIFFERENCES AND ORIGIN .....................................................037
PRINCIPLES OF SELECTION ANCIENTLY FOLLOWED,
AND THEIR EFFECTS .................................................................. 046
UNCONSCIOUS SELECTION.......................................................... 051
CIRCUMSTANCES FAVOURABLE TO MAN’S POWER OF
SELECTION ......................................................................................058
CHAPTER II VARIATION UNDER
NATURE ............................................................ 063
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES ........................................................ 065
DOUBTFUL SPECIES......................................................................... 068
WIDE-RANGING, MUCH DIFFUSED, AND COMMON
SPECIES VARY MOST....................................................................077
SPECIES OF THE LARGER GENERA IN EACH COUNTRY
VARY MORE FREQUENTLY THAN THE SPECIES OF
THE SMALLER GENERA ............................................................. 079
MANY OF THE SPECIES INCLUDED WITHIN THE LARGER
GENERA RESEMBLE VARIETIES IN BEING VERY CLOSELY,
BUT UNEQUALLY, RELATED TO EACH OTHER, AND IN
HAVING RESTRICTED RANGES ..............................................082
SUMMARY ........................................................................................... 084
CHAPTER III STRUGGLE FOR
EXISTENCE ...................................................... 087
THE TERM, STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE, USED
IN A LARGE SENSE........................................................................090
GEOMETRICAL RATIO OF INCREASE.......................................091
NATURE OF THE CHECKS TO INCREASE .............................. 095
COMPLEX RELATIONS OF ALL ANIMALS AND PLANTS TO
EACH OTHER IN THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE ...... 099
STRUGGLE FOR LIFE MOST SEVERE BETWEEN
INDIVIDUALS AND VARIETIES OF THE SAME SPECIES .... 104
CHAPTER IV NATURAL SELECTION;
OR THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST .......... 109
SEXUAL SELECTION ........................................................................ 119
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE ACTION OF NATURAL
SELECTION, OR THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST ...........122
ON THE INTERCROSSING OF INDIVIDUALS ........................ 131
CIRCUMSTANCES FAVOURABLE FOR THE PRODUCTION
OF NEW FORMS THROUGH NATURAL SELECTION .......137
EXTINCTION CAUSED BY NATURAL SELECTION .............. 145
DIVERGENCE OF CHARACTER ................................................... 147
THE PROBABLE EFFECTS OF THE ACTION OF NATURAL
SELECTION THROUGH DIVERGENCE OF CHARACTER
AND EXTINCTION, ON THE DESCENDANTS OF A
COMMON ANCESTOR...................................................................152
ON THE DEGREE TO WHICH ORGANISATION TENDS
TO ADVANCE ................................................................................. 163
CONVERGENCE OF CHARACTER............................................... 168
SUMMARY OF CHAPTER .................................................................171
CHAPTER V LAWS OF VARIATION ................. 175
EFFECTS OF THE INCREASED USE AND DISUSE OF PARTS,
AS CONTROLLED BY NATURAL SELECTION .................... 178
ACCLIMATISATION ........................................................................ 184
CORRELATED VARIATION .......................................................... 188
COMPENSATION AND ECONOMY OF GROWTH ................ 192
MULTIPLE, RUDIMENTARY, AND LOWLY-ORGANISED
STRUCTURES ARE VARIABLE ..................................................194
A PART DEVELOPED IN ANY SPECIES IN AN
EXTRAORDINARY DEGREE OR MANNER, IN
COMPARISON WITH THE SAME PART IN ALLIED
SPECIES, TENDS TO BE HIGHLY VARIABLE ....................... 195
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS MORE VARIABLE THAN GENERIC
CHARACTERS .................................................................................199
SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS VARIABLE .................201
DISTINCT SPECIES PRESENT ANALOGOUS VARIATIONS,
SO THAT A VARIETY OF ONE SPECIES OFTEN ASSUMES
A CHARACTER PROPER TO AN ALLIED SPECIES, OR
REVERTS TO SOME OF THE CHARACTERS OF AN EARLY
PROGENITOR ................................................................................ 204
SUMMARY .............................................................................................213
CHAPTER VI DIFFICULTIES OF THE
THEORY .............................................................217
ON THE ABSENCE OR RARITY OF TRANSITIONAL
VARIETIES ........................................................................................ 219
ON THE ORIGIN AND TRANSITION OF ORGANIC BEINGS
WITH PECULIAR HABITS AND STRUCTURE .....................226
ORGANS OF EXTREME PERFECTION AND
COMPLICATION ............................................................................233
MODES Of TRANSITION ............................................................... 238
SPECIAL DIFFICULTIES OF THE THEORY OF NATURAL
SELECTION ...................................................................................... 243
ORGANS OF LITTLE APPARENT IMPORTANCE, AS
AFFECTED BY NATURAL SELECTION ...................................253
UTILITARIAN DOCTRINE, HOW FAR TRUE: BEAUTY,
HOW ACQUIRED .......................................................................... 258
SUMMARY: THE LAW OF UNITY OF TYPE AND OF THE
CONDITIONS OF EXISTENCE EMBRACED BY THE
THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION ...................................... 265
CHAPTER VII MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS
TO THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION ...271
CHAPTER VIII INSTINCT.................................325
INHERITED CHANGES OF HABIT OR INSTINCT IN
DOMESTICATED ANIMALS .......................................................331
SPECIAL INSTINCTS ........................................................................ 336
INSTINCTS OF THE CUCKOO ...................................................... 336
SLAVE-MAKING INSTINCT .......................................................... 342
CELL-MAKING INSTINCT OF THE HIVE-BEE ........................348
OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF NATURAL
SELECTION AS APPLIED TO INSTINCTS: NEUTER
AND STERILE INSECTS ............................................................... 359
SUMMARY ............................................................................................ 368
CHAPTER IX HYBRIDISM ............................... 371
DEGREES OF STERILITY .................................................................373
LAWS GOVERNING THE STERILITY OF FIRST CROSSES
AND OF HYBRIDS ..........................................................................381
ORIGIN AND CAUSES OF THE STERILITY OF FIRST
CROSSES AND OF HYBRIDS ...................................................... 389
RECIPROCAL DIMORPHISM AND TRIMORPHISM ............. 397
FERTILITY OF VARIETIES WHEN CROSSED, AND OF THEIR
MONGREL OFFSPRING, NOT UNIVERSAL ......................... 402
HYBRIDS AND MONGRELS COMPARED,
INDEPENDENTLY OF THEIR FERTILITY........................... 407
SUMMARY OF CHAPTER ................................................................ 412
CHAPTER X ON THE IMPERFECTION OF THE
GEOLOGICAL RECORD ..................................415
ON THE LAPSE OF TIME, AS INFERRED FROM THE RATE
OF DEPOSITION AND EXTENT OF DENUDATION..........419
ON THE POORNESS OF PALAEONTOLOGICAL
COLLECTIONS ............................................................................... 425
ON THE ABSENCE OF NUMEROUS INTERMEDIATE
VARIETIES IN ANY SINGLE FORMATION .......................... 432
ON THE SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF WHOLE GROUPS OF
ALLIED SPECIES .............................................................................443
ON THE SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF GROUPS OF ALLIED
SPECIES IN THE LOWEST KNOWN FOSSILIFEROUS
STRATA ............................................................................................ 448
CHAPTER XI ON THE GEOLOGICAL
SUCCESSION OF ORGANIC BEINGS ............455
ON EXTINCTION ..............................................................................461
ON THE FORMS OF LIFE CHANGING ALMOST
SIMULTANEOUSLY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD ..........467
ON THE AFFINITIES OF EXTINCT SPECIES TO EACH
OTHER, AND TO LIVING FORMS ........................................... 473
ON THE STATE OF DEVELOPMENT OF ANCIENT
COMPARED WITH LIVING FORMS ....................................... 481
ON THE SUCCESSION OF THE SAME TYPES WITHIN THE
SAME AREAS, DURING THE LATER TERTIARY
PERIODS .......................................................................................... 486
SUMMARY OF THE PRECEDING AND PRESENT
CHAPTERS ....................................................................................... 489
CHAPTER XII GEOGRAPHICAL
DISTRIBUTION ............................................... 495
SINGLE CENTRES OF SUPPOSED CREATION ........................502
MEANS OF DISPERSAL ................................................................... 506
DISPERSAL DURING THE GLACIAL PERIOD ......................... 516
ALTERNATE GLACIAL PERIODS IN THE NORTH AND
SOUTH ............................................................................................... 524
CHAPTER XIII GEOGRAPHICAL
DISTRIBUTION—CONTINUED ....................537
FRESH-WATER PRODUCTIONS ................................................... 538
ON THE INHABITANTS OF OCEANIC ISLANDS ................... 543
ABSENCE OF BATRACHIANS AND TERRESTRIAL
MAMMALS ON OCEANIC ISLANDS ........................................548
ON THE RELATIONS OF THE INHABITANTS OF ISLANDS
TO THOSE OF THE NEAREST MAINLAND ...........................553
SUMMARY OF THE LAST AND PRESENT CHAPTERS .......... 562
CHAPTER XIV MUTUAL AFFINITIES OF
ORGANIC BEINGS: MORPHOLOGY—
EMBRYOLOGY—RUDIMENTARY ORGANS ... 567
CLASSIFICATION ..............................................................................568
ANALOGICAL RESEMBLANCES ................................................... 583
ON THE NATURE OF THE AFFINITIES CONNECTING
ORGANIC BEINGS ....................................................................... 590
MORPHOLOGY .................................................................................. 595
DEVELOPMENT AND EMBRYOLOGY ..................................... 602
RUDIMENTARY, ATROPHIED, AND ABORTED
ORGANS ............................................................................................ 617
SUMMARY ............................................................................................626
CHAPTER XV RECAPITULATION AND
CONCLUSION................................................... 629
APPENDIX GLOSSARY OF THE PRINCIPAL
SCIENTIFIC TERMS USED IN THE PRESENT
VOLUME ........................................................... 667
