* Darwin was intrigued by the geographic distribution of organisms on the Galápagos Islands (加拉巴戈斯群島) and by the fact that Galápagos organisms resembled those in South AmericaThe new geology * Darwin was strongly influenced by the writings of geologist Charles Lyell (查爾斯賴爾). Darwin would apply Lyell’s principle of gradualism to the evolution of Earth’s life.I-2 Descent with Modification - Darwin made two main points in The Origin of Species: 1) organisms inhabiting Earth today descended from ancestral species. 2) natural selection was the mechanism for descent with modification.6