Abstract
Darwin's lesson : evolution is the mainspring of diversity. A case study in Lyon The morphological variability of living beings was the purpose of many heated debates among naturalists of the 19th century. Darwin analysed this variability as the main source of speciation : variations which show themselves spontaneously are the object of a natural selection as a result of the struggle for life to which are subjected all the living beings. This process leads to the appearance of new forms as well as in the elimination of the intermediate forms. If it is true that for a long time, the Darwinian theory was not completely understood and not accepted by the great majority of French scholars, there were however in Lyon, between 1870 and 1900, some naturalists inspired by it in their works relative to the plant communities (Magnin) or mollusc variability (Coutagne), showing that the lesson of Darwin was well and truly heard.
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