NUMBER IX 

 FITNESSES 



EVERY living creature is a bundle of fitnesses 

 or adaptations which have been slowly 

 wrought out in the course of ages. There has been 

 a sifting of novelties age after age, and the result 

 has been the survival of the fittest, which means 

 the survival of those creatures best suited or best 

 adapted to particular conditions of life. It is also 

 open to the active animal to seek out situations 

 to which its inborn peculiarities are best suited 

 to play the cards that heredity has put into its hands. 



Illustrations of Adaptations 



The structure of a long bone in a mammal is 

 adapted to give the utmost firmness with the mini- 

 mum expenditure of material ; the unique pollen- 

 basket on the hind legs of worker-bees is adapted 

 to stow away the pollen ; the colours and patterns 

 on the wings of leaf -insects are adapted to harmonize 

 with the foliage on which they settle ; the parts of 

 flowers are often adapted to ensure that the insect- 

 visitors are dusted with pollen, and thus to secure 

 cross -fertilization ; the peacock is adapted to capti- 

 vate the pea-hen ; the mother mammal is adapted 



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