THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 19 



numbers of such as become food-seekers, perish in 

 immaturity in the dens and lairs which saw their 

 birth. Do they die of infantile diseases, or are they 

 devoured by their parents ? " 



My friend asked this question sneeringly, but I 

 replied to him seriously. 



" Assuredly they must perish in their immaturity by 

 one or other of these agencies. Their elimination in 

 infancy can alone explain the actual phenomena of 

 Nature, and is the only explanation that is in 

 accordance with the facts and phenomena of feral life. 

 Adopt it, and the causes which check the natural 

 tendency of each species to increase are no longer ' most 

 obscure.' Darwin found them most obscure, because he 

 began to look for them after they had fully acted. 

 They had done their perfect work before his keen 

 observation was directed upon the phenomena of 

 Nature with a view to discover them." 



" Then," said my interlocutor, " kindly deign to in- 

 form me how you imagine the excess of Nature's 

 reproduction is, in the case of the carnivora, eliminated 

 before the young that perish become food-seekers. It 

 seems to me to be a very absurd thing to believe that 

 Nature reproduces her offspring in such numbers only 

 to kill them off before they have begun to enjoy life." 



To this I replied : " Do you then believe that Nature's 

 action would be wiser and less cruel if she sent her 

 enormous reproduction into the struggle for existence 

 to be starved to death from being unable to find food, 

 or to be mangled to death by tooth and claw in their 



