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  THE 
  ISSUES 
  OF 
  LIFE 
  

  

  ence. 
  When 
  an 
  avalanche 
  or 
  a 
  landslip, 
  on 
  any 
  scale 
  we 
  

   please, 
  or 
  a 
  sudden 
  fall 
  of 
  temperature, 
  or 
  a 
  great 
  drought, 
  

   or 
  any 
  catastrophe 
  wipes 
  out 
  whole 
  regiments 
  of 
  living 
  crea- 
  

   tures, 
  the 
  struggle 
  for 
  existence 
  is 
  not 
  illustrated, 
  for 
  the 
  

   essential 
  idea 
  in 
  the 
  concept 
  of 
  struggle 
  is 
  that 
  the 
  living 
  

   individual 
  answers 
  back. 
  When 
  on 
  the 
  summer 
  evening 
  the 
  

   mayflies 
  rise 
  like 
  a 
  living 
  mist 
  from 
  the 
  quiet 
  reaches 
  of 
  

   the 
  river, 
  and 
  in 
  some 
  cases 
  end 
  their 
  ephemeral 
  aerial 
  life 
  

   before 
  the 
  twilight 
  is 
  past, 
  there 
  is 
  assuredly 
  great 
  mortality, 
  

   but 
  there 
  is 
  not 
  in 
  the 
  dying 
  any 
  struggle 
  for 
  existence. 
  

   They 
  die 
  off 
  in 
  the 
  crisis 
  of 
  giving 
  origin 
  to 
  the 
  next 
  gener- 
  

   ation, 
  and 
  as 
  they 
  may 
  have 
  spent 
  two 
  or 
  three 
  years 
  of 
  

   larval 
  sub-aquatic 
  life 
  they 
  may 
  be 
  at 
  their 
  death 
  quite 
  old 
  

   as 
  insects 
  count 
  age. 
  Similarly, 
  when 
  the 
  baleen 
  whale 
  rush- 
  

   ing 
  through 
  the 
  waves 
  engulfs 
  myriads 
  of 
  sea-butterflies 
  in 
  

   the 
  huge 
  cavern 
  of 
  its 
  mouth, 
  there 
  is 
  great 
  mortality, 
  

   but 
  no 
  struggle 
  for 
  existence. 
  Nor 
  is 
  there 
  when 
  the 
  

   squirrel 
  has 
  a 
  meal 
  of 
  beech-nuts, 
  each 
  of 
  them 
  a 
  young 
  

   life. 
  

  

  The 
  essential 
  idea, 
  often 
  missed, 
  is 
  that 
  the 
  struggle 
  for 
  

   existence 
  is 
  the 
  clash 
  between 
  life 
  and 
  its 
  limitations, 
  when 
  

   life 
  insists 
  on 
  its 
  rights 
  and 
  answers 
  back. 
  When 
  organisms 
  

   react 
  to 
  their 
  limitations 
  and 
  difficulties, 
  when 
  they 
  do 
  not 
  

   meet 
  these 
  passively, 
  but 
  thrust 
  and 
  parry, 
  experiment 
  and 
  

   actively 
  evade, 
  and 
  in 
  a 
  hundred 
  ways 
  say 
  " 
  We 
  will 
  live 
  ", 
  

   there 
  is 
  the 
  struggle 
  for 
  existence. 
  The 
  essence 
  of 
  the 
  

   struggle 
  is 
  the 
  endeavour 
  after 
  well-being. 
  

  

  Another 
  point, 
  somewhat 
  difficult 
  at 
  first 
  sight, 
  is 
  that 
  

   inter-specific 
  struggle 
  for 
  existence 
  is 
  not 
  illustrated 
  when 
  

   all 
  the 
  members 
  of 
  a 
  species 
  meet 
  a 
  difficulty 
  by 
  the 
  same 
  

   adaptive 
  response, 
  the 
  capacity 
  for 
  which 
  is 
  now 
  ingrained 
  

   in 
  their 
  constitution. 
  Thus 
  many 
  species 
  offer 
  interesting 
  

  

  