40 



THE STUDY- OF ANIMAL LIFE CHAP, m 



For 

 Food 



surroundings. This also is a struggle without strife. 

 Fellow competitors strive for their share of the limited 

 means of subsistence ; between foes there is incessant 

 thrust and parry ; in the courtship of mates there are 

 many disappointed and worsted suitors ; over all are 

 the shears of fate a changeful physical environment 

 which has no mercy. 



An analysis of the various forms of struggle may be 

 attempted as follows : 



Between animals of the same kind which 

 compete for similar food and other 

 necessaries of life Struggle between 

 felloivs, e.g., at one extreme, the larvae 

 of whelks which devour one another 

 in their crowded cradles, and at the 

 other end some device of self-subordina- 

 tion or social organisation which solves 

 the pressing problem. 



Between animals of different kinds, the 

 one set striving to devour, the other 

 set endeavouring to escape Struggle 

 between Joes., e.g. between carnivores and 

 herbivores. 



Between the rival suitors for desired 

 mates Struggle between rivals in love, 

 e.g. stags, sea-lions. 



Between animals and changeful surround- 

 Struggle ivithjate, e.g. the numer- 



For 

 Love 



For 

 Foot- 

 hold 





(d) 



ngs 



ous endeavours that individual animals 

 make to cope with the severity of 

 winter ; w r hen, for instance, one squirrel 

 collects a much larger store of food 

 than its neighbours do. 



(a) It is often said that the struggle between fellows 

 of the same kind and with the same needs is keenest of 

 all, but this is rather an assumption than an induction 

 from facts. The widespread opinion is partly due to an 

 a priori consideration of the problem, partly to that 



