ANIMAL SELF-DEFENSE. 595 



penetrate the crust of society and reach the fertile subsoil of the lower 

 strata. Before the end of that period the planter of the tree has to 

 fertilize the soil with his own bones ; the weary tiller has to yield his 

 plow to other hands. And the noblest plants are of such slow growth 

 that the master of the vineyard appears to discriminate against his 

 worthiest laborers ; nothing seems wanting to aggravate the injustice 

 and incongruity of the existing arrangement. 



But a minimum life-term of ninety years would reconcile all con- 

 tradictions : two thirds of it would be enough for the adjudication of 

 every claim, and the remaining third could be devoted to rewards or 

 retributions. The second generation, which now can only reverse and 

 regret the short-sighted judgment of the first, would have a chance to 

 make amends for the injustice. Such men as Kepler, Spinoza, Dante, 

 Milton, Bayle, Rousseau, Mirabeau, Burns, Beethoven, Paine, and By- 

 ron, would have survived the influence of their detractors, and Time, 

 the avenger, could have answered their appeal with something better 

 than a monument. 



-*- 



ANIMAL SELF-DEFENSE. 



By II. L. FAIECHILD. 



A FIERCE and pitiless struggle for life in the animal world is a 

 stern fact. All creatures are beset by dangers. The negative 

 conditions of cold and hunger and the positive influences of nature's 

 elements are more easily resisted than the innumerable voracious foes. 

 Every animal is predestined food for some other animal. But self- 

 preservation is a universal thought, and endless is the variety of ways 

 whereby life is prolonged. 



A few external organs of defense are familiar to every one as 

 horns, claws, teeth, stings, shells, etc. Many animals depend on weap- 

 ons and muscular power, a still greater number upon keen senses 

 and fleetness eternal vigilance. Others rely upon intelligence, cun- 

 ning, simulation, and deceit ; while stupidity, against which even the 

 gods are .powerless, may be the saving of others. Some are protected 

 by skill in construction, some by unconscious resemblance, and a host 

 by color, armor, and other passive means. A volume would not ex- 

 haust the subject, as there is scarcely a species of animal without 

 some peculiarity for self-preservation. 



This brief paper will only treat of defense against enemies ; and, 

 although the subject permits of no natural classification, an arbitrary 

 division into passive and active defense will be convenient. 



A host of animals of all classes and ranks are more or less defended 

 by a hard covering the result of natural growth. Such defense, like 

 other modes to be described, is strictly involuntary and passive ; and, 



