252 WARFARE BETWEEN DIFFERENT SPECIES 



its young. But it would take no account of 

 other species, and since any number might 

 occupy the same ground, the fact of its having 

 established a territory would not alone suffice to 

 render its supply of food secure. Success in the 

 attainment of reproduction would then become 

 largely a matter of chance, depending upon the 

 number of individuals that happened to settle in 

 this place or in that. In the second section 

 there would be perpetual warfare ; for whereas 

 the appropriate organic condition which leads to 

 pairing arises in different species at different 

 times, fresh claimants to occupied ground would 

 constantly be appearing, and the efforts of the 

 inhabitants to preserve their boundaries intact 

 would have to be maintained throughout the 

 whole period of reproduction ; and while the 

 stronger or more persistent forms would be 

 more likely to breed, they would do so at the 

 expense of their young, to which they would be 

 unable to devote proper attention, and with an 

 expenditure of energy that would reflect itself 

 upon the future of the race. But the conditions 

 of life in the third section would be such as 

 would be more likely to yield good results. 

 The relations of the different members of the 

 community would be more evenly balanced, for 

 a male would only be called upon to compete 

 with those of its own size and strength. Thus, 

 on the one hand, accommodation would be so 

 divided as to secure the breeding of the maxi- 

 mum number of individuals with the minimum 

 of expenditure of energy, whilst on the other, 



