42 DISPOSITION TO SECURE A TERRITORY 



may meet them in mid-ocean and add to the 

 perils of their journey ; or the temperature of 

 the previous weeks may have been sufficiently 

 low to arrest the development of insect life^ — 

 and yet males are annually exposed to these 

 risks in hurrying to their breeding grounds. 

 For what purpose ? The answer will -largely 

 depend upon the way in which we regard those 

 few acres wherein a resting place is ultimately 

 found. For myself, I believe that they are 

 of importance, inasmuch as the securing of a 

 place suitable for the rearing of offspring is 

 a primary condition of success in the attain- 

 ment of reproduction ; and if this be so, it is 

 evident that the interests of the race will be 

 better served by the males making good this 

 first step before the females are ready to pair, 

 otherwise they might oscillate between two 

 modes of behaviour, created by the premature 

 functioning of conflicting impulses. 



The different steps in the process seem to 

 follow one another in ordered sequence. The 

 male inherits a disposition — which for us, of 

 course, has prospective meaning — to seek the 

 appropriate breeding ground and there to 

 establish itself; and as early a functioning of 

 this disposition as possible, consonant with the 

 conditions of existence in the external environ- 

 ment, may have been evolved for the following 

 reasons — firstly, the earlier individuals will 

 meet with less interference wherever they may 

 settle, every locality will be open to them, 

 every acre free, their only need being that 



