THE CARP AND THE STICKLEBACK 



This is a general view, the details of which may be 

 filled in by multiplying the number of investigations, 

 taking into account a greater number of individuals, and 

 drawing out curves to show the position. But the con- 

 clusion is that the stickleback, spawned in the spring of 

 any particular year, accomplishes its main growth during 

 the course of that year, gets over the winter, reaches the 

 spring of the following year, then reproduces itself, 

 when it is only one year old, lives on through the follow- 

 ing summer and dies during the autumn, or at the 

 beginning of winter. Its whole existence, from one 

 spring to the beginning of the following year's winter, 

 lasts, on an average, eighteen months, two summers 

 separated by a single winter. When this time is over 

 its life is ended, death is unescapable. And this year and 

 a half has only two phases, two moments of real fullness 

 of life, the two summers, winter being a period of 

 rest. The complete chronological age is eighteen 

 months, but the epidosic age, which is given up to the 

 real life and the growth of the individual, is hardly more 

 than twelve months. That is all, in time, that the life 

 of this little, agile, brilliant creature amounts to. 



Here we see the contrast with the carp at its 

 greatest. Not only are the two fish dissimilar as regards 

 size, number of spawnings, and the quantity of eggs 

 spawned at one time, but they differ also as regards 

 length of existence, the extension of their life in 

 time. One reaches its ultimate size a year after it is 

 spawned, then spawns itself, ceases to grow, and 

 quickly perishes. The other lives on after its first year, 

 continues to grow, reaches considerable size and, each 

 year, fulfils its work of reproduction. The contrast is 

 striking. The large carp enjoys privileges which are 

 denied to the stickleback. Science is coming to the 

 conclusion that these differences in the manifestations of 

 life perhaps result from differences in the internal 

 secretions of the organism. We observe that living 

 Nature introduces a degree of inequality among creatures, 



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