io8 WHAT EVOLUTION IS 



and all in perfect peace; there has 

 been no struggle, no conflict, but 

 natural selection has nevertheless 

 occurred. The essential act of re- 

 production has been completed by 

 only one and that one has thereby 

 handed on its inborn peculiarities to 

 the next generation. The same oper- 

 ation is true of animals. Any crea- 

 ture that fails to leave offspring 

 suffers elimination from the stand- 

 point of natural selection, yet such an 

 animal or plant may live individually 

 as long or even longer than many 

 another whose progeny will reach 

 into future generations. Hence na- 

 tural selection is not necessarily con- 

 cerned with the destruction of the 

 individual, as is often inferred by 

 the figurative expressions already al- 

 luded to, but is a process that has to 

 do with the way in which plants and 

 animals succeed or fail in leaving off- 



