PART II. 



Wild Survivals in Domesti- 

 cated Animals 



1. The Struggle for Existence. 



As a rule, animals are adapted to their sur- 

 roundings. They have the form and architecture 

 which they need to enable them to exist. They fit 

 their surroundings, as if they had been whittled 

 out by some expert to suit the various places in 

 which they live. They have just the organs they 

 need, arranged in just the way they should be, to 

 carry on life successfully. 



It used to be supposed that this wonderful 

 adaptation of living beings to their surroundings 

 was the result of the skill and benevolence of the 

 Creator. Animals were all supposed to have ex- 

 isted from the beginning, just as we find them to- 

 day. It is now known that the perfect adaptations 

 of animals to their surroundings is the result of a 

 world-wide struggle to live and a consequent sur- 

 vival of the fittest to survive. In the struggle for 

 life most animals perish. Only the few survive. 

 These few are the ones best fitted to their sur- 

 roundings. The survival of the fittest which has 

 gone on for millions of years has resulted in the 

 production of species with natures and bodies ex- 

 ceedingly well fitted to the world in which they 

 live. 



