THE WEB OF ISLAND LIFE 193 



The relationship between coralines and flamingos is not as 

 fantastic as it might seem. Darwin long ago proved the con- 

 nection between cats and clover. Field mice destroy the combs 

 and nests of humble bees, the red clover depends upon humble 

 bees for its fertihzation. Over two thirds of the humble bees 

 in England are destroyed yearly by these mice; near towns and 

 villages the nests of humble bees are more common than else- 

 where, a fact that must be attributed to the number of cats that 

 destroy the mice. No cats, lots of mice, fewer humble bees, less 

 clover seeds. Therefore clover depends upon cats; or to carry 

 the illustration further it is the old maids of England who keep 

 the clover going; for without old maids there would be a dearth 

 of cats. 



The concept of life as an intricate web puts a new aspect 

 on our biological approach. There is no such thing as isola- 

 tion; nature is a vast system of interlinking and ramifying co- 

 ordinations. If one thread is pulled a hundred are shaken or 

 loosened; the vibration is transmitted to the whole. There are 

 webs which are concerned only with the maintenance of life, 

 with the provision of sustenance in which the capture of one 

 creature provides food for another, and which on its demise 

 provides a similar bounty. Other webs are concerned with the 

 functions of creation. Any person who is father to children is 

 a link in a chain which has been forging since the beginning of 

 time. The Chinese long ago grasped this idea and have made 

 it an integral part of their philosophy; the grandfather and 

 grandson are separate and successive molecules in a stream of 

 life. Evolution, too, is only a woven fabric of complex pattern 

 in which the design is controlled by time. Even emotions foster 

 a chain of events; even after the lapse of two millenniums, the 

 kindly hand of Jesus of Nazareth is visible in the halls and cor- 

 ridors of dozens of orphanages and hospitals; conversely the 

 sequence of hatreds which had their genesis in the sorry tur- 



