118 Diversity of "Struggle" 



flesh, between the small rodents and the birds of prey ; 

 he thought also of non-competitive endeavors which 

 animals make to cope with drought and cold. He in- 

 cluded not only the cannibalism in the cradle which 

 occurs in the egg-capsules of the Whelk, when the 

 pioneers eat the laggards; he thought also of the 

 mutual aid so deeply engrained among ants. He in- 

 cluded not only the starving locust eating its neigh- 

 bor and the fierce combats among rats in despair ; he 

 thought also of the mutual aid of gregarious and 

 social animals. More clearly than anyone since, Dar- 

 win realized that the descriptive term "the struggle 

 for existence" is to be used in "a large and meta- 

 phorical sense," that it includes endeavors to secure 

 the welfare of the offspring as well as internecine 

 competition for the necessities of life. How has this 

 changed since Darwin's day? 



There have been relapses, if we may so call them, 

 as when Huxley pictured Nature as "a vast gladia- 

 torial show" and "a dismal cockpit" ; there has been 

 a tendency to use too much red in the picture ; there 

 has been now and then a loss of Darwin's subtlety; 

 but on the whole it has become clear that the Struggle 

 for Existence is a formula for all the manifold efforts 

 and answers-back that living creatures make when 

 they find themselves up against environing difficulties 

 and limitations. It includes all the reactions which 

 secure the welfare of self and kin. The struggle may 

 mean competition between fellows of the same kith 

 and kin — rat against rat — or parrying the attacks 

 of foes belonging to other races — herbivores against 



