DEPENDENCE OF RACES. 315 



In all probability the same mutual dependence which 

 now exists between the animal and vegetable kingdoms 

 existed from the beginning of time, and will continue to 

 do so under varying circumstances through the countless 

 ages of the earth's duration. 



There is yet another very important chain of circum- 

 stances which binds these two great kingdoms together. 

 This is the chain of the animal necessities. A large 

 number of races feed directly upon vegetables ; herbs 

 and fruits are the only things from which they gain 

 those elements required to restore the waste of their 

 systems. 



These herbivorous animals, which must necessarily 

 form fat and muscle from the elements of their vegetable 

 diet, are preyed on by the carnivorous races ; and from 

 these the carbon is again restored to the vegetable world. 

 Sweep off from the earth the food of the herbivora, they 

 must necessarily very soon perish, and with their disso- 

 lution, the destruction of the carnivora is certainly 

 ensured. To illustrate this on a small scale, it may be 

 mentioned that around the coasts of Cornwall, pilchards 

 were formerly caught in very great abundance, in the 

 shallow water within coves, where these fish are now but 

 rarely seen. From the investigations of the Messrs. 

 Couch, whose very accurate observations on the Cornish 

 fauna have placed both father and* son amongst the most 

 eminent of British naturalists,* it appears that the 

 absence of these fish is to be attributed entirely to the 

 practice of the farmers, who cut the sea- weed from the 

 rocks for the purpose of manuring their lands. By this 

 they destroy all the small Crustacea inhabiting these 

 immature marine forests feeding on the algae, and as 

 these, the principal food of the pilchards, have perished 

 they seek for a substitute in more favourable situations. 



* See memoir On the Pilchard, by Mr. Couch, in the Eeports of 

 the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society. 



