[Michael_Michaelangelo]

I suppose some credit should be given to the French naturalist Buffon. Darwin was more of an opportunist.

[PatrickHenry]

Buffon suggested common descent. Darwin came up with the mechanism of natural selection, and he gathered an enormous amount of evidence in support of his theory. Also, since Darwin was about a century after Buffon, you could hardly say he leaped to publish first. Ultimately, except for the indivuals personally involved, it probably doesn't matter who came up with the theory first. The theory itself is what counts.