وفي نهاية المطاف جاءت إعتراضات معاصروا داروين لقبول تحويل الأنواع على أساس مستحاثة أو الأحفوريات ؛ في نادي X الذى تشكل للدفاع عن نظرية التطور ضد الكنيسة والهواة , although the specific evolutionary mechanism which Darwin provided – natural selection – was actively disputed in favour of alternative theories such as Lamarckism and orthogenesis.
Darwin's contemporaries eventually came to accept the transmutation of species based upon fossil evidence; the X Club was formed to defend evolution against the church and wealthy amateurs, although the specific evolutionary mechanism which Darwin provided – natural selection – was actively disputed in favour of alternative theories such as Lamarckism and orthogenesis.