NUMBER VII 

 PARENTAL CARE AMONG ANIMALS 



IN many animals, from worm to frog, the mother 

 liberates a large number of eggs, and leaves 

 them to develop. Sometimes, indeed, as in certain 

 sea-worms and in many butterflies and moths, she 

 dies soon after. Even in strong animals like 

 lampreys and eels, the death of the parents seems to 

 follow close on the heels of giving rise to offspring. 

 It must be admitted that the liberation of huge 

 numbers of ova sown broadcast in the waters 

 is a wasteful process. There is great mortality 

 and many of the eggs never begin to develop. The 

 race is continued because there are so many. 



It seems then that both from the parents' side 

 and from the offspring's side there is much to be 

 said for parental care, and we see it beginning among 

 many different kinds of animals. 



We see a beginning when the mother lays her 

 eggs, instead of merely liberating them. The female 

 salmon lays eggs in a furrow which she makes in the 

 gravelly bed of the stream. We see a beginning 

 when the mother carries her eggs about with her 

 after she has liberated them. Many a spider has a 



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