Darwin Acknowledged That The Fossil Record Is Incomplete.

The fossil record, a rich and messy past, was inherited by Darwin with just those few fossil remains unearthed which document his theory of evolution -- and only these small specimens. But from the evidence, most would think that all the hundreds of fossils discovered since 1700 have been plucked from the collective subconscious of humanity or elsewhere, to be said without a nod of the head. This view is patently false, for the available fossils are those that fit Darwin's theory. No wonder he was quite put out when Alfred Wallace made his definitive discoveries in 1904. Darwin called Wallace's discoveries "a small handful" of fossils, but it was such a sensational finding that it still grabs the public imagination. How? To set their minds at rest, Darwin carefully sets up a series of pages where he deduces how the fossil record, like the course of the sun, is a product of time as well as change. Darwin discusses how the world looked in about 65 million years and how this changed as the climate became more temperate. The last 40 million years were a climate of increasing glaciation and declining temperature, with no sign of further environmental stability. What is on display here is the evidence that the fossils are part of the overall record of life being created via natural selection. Darwin confirms this during a presentation in 1859 of geology, explaining how he used them to validate his ideas concerning evolution. Darwin's fellow paleo-physiologist Henry Bates conducted similar experiments in order to apply Darwin's theory of evolution to fossils. He had worked out that the rocks accumulated millions of years ago, under a constant and varying climatic influence, that each rock was unlike its predecessor, but was the same age because of the constant difference in temperature. This is another step forward for Darwin! Darwin explains how we should not feel too upset if we find only a few fossilised bones in the fossil record:

I can give you many examples of minute differences in creatures, minerals, sizes, colours, and forms, which are unknown to us in nature, solely on account of the extraordinary activity of animals which have lived within the past millions of years, and which are far more ancient than the minerals themselves.

Plates showing fossil bones has long been a topic of debate.