I7.S BOMBAY DUCKS 



giving her creatures a large brain, which takes time to 

 make. 



Millions of organisms which, properly speaking, have 

 no brains, make a very fair fight in the universal 

 struggle. A large brain, however, will greatly assist a 

 species the moment it is fully developed. It is, there- 

 fore, obvious that, if Dame Nature can only hit upon 

 some device whereby the young of a species are pro- 

 tected until they are practically full-grown, she will be 

 able to develop in them large brains, and then that 

 species will do wonders. 



Nature has solved the problem. The solution is the 

 evolution of mothers. It is obvious that if the full-grown 

 members of the species can be made to protect and fight 

 for the young ones, their development need not be rushed, 

 they need not, so to speak, be hastily put together ; 

 time and care may be lavished in the making of them. 



Hence the origin of the maternal instinct. The 

 greater the protection given by the parents to the young, 

 the greater the time that can be devoted to the develop- 

 ment of the animal. It may be asked, if this was all 

 that Nature needed — the evolution of mothers — how is 

 it that, since this has occurred, all the higher animals 

 are not as clever as man, or nearly as clever? The 

 answer is that the maternal instinct, while favourable on 

 the whole to the species, may be fatal to the individual; 

 and if all the individuals perish, what is to happen to 

 the species ? 



Animals with young are at a disadvantage in the 

 struggle for existence. It probably has happened that 

 many races of animals have perished owing to the 



