A NTMKKors FAMILY M 



stomach with plant-lice? Look at it closely on the 1 

 rosebush, and you will see it at its ferocious feast- 

 ing. It is very pretty and innocent-looking; but it 

 is a glutton, there is no denying the fact, so fond is 

 it of plant-lice. 



"Is that all? Oh, no. Those poor plant-lice are 

 manna, the regular diet of all sorts of ravagers. 

 Young birds eat them, the hemerobius eats them, 

 lady-birds eat them, gluttons of all kinds eat them; 

 and still there are always plant-lice. Ah! that is 

 where, in the fight between fecundity which repairs 

 and the rough battle of life which destroys, the 

 weak excel by opposing legions and legions to the 

 chances of annihilation. In vain the devourers come 

 from all sides and pounce upon their prey; the de- 

 voured survive by sacrificing a million to preserve 

 one. The weaker they are, the more fruitful they 

 are. 



' ' The herring, cod, and sardine are given over as 

 pasturage for the devourers of the sea, earth, and 

 >ky. When they undertake long voyages to graze in 

 1'avorable spots, their extermination is imminent. 

 The hungry ones of the sea surround the school of 

 fi>h: the famished ones of the sky hover over their 

 route; those of the earth await them on the shore. 

 Man hastens to lend a strong hand to the killing 

 and to take his share of the sea food. He equips 

 fleets, goes to the fish with naval armies in which all 

 nations are represented; he dries in the sun, salts, 

 -mokes, packs. But there is no perceptible diminu- 

 tion in tin- supply: for him the weak are infinite in 

 nninher. ( )ne cod lays nine million eggs! Where 



