THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 49 



hurricanes, and wrapped in constant gloom, quietly 

 observing at the close of his narrative, that neverthe- 

 less the inhabitants enjoyed perpetual sunshine, that 

 their streets were never wetted, and their crops were 

 never shaken. He would simply be following a 

 characteristic Darwinian method of shunting critical 

 investigation by an authoritative statement. Surely 

 that writer has attained to a literary man's perfect 

 apotheosis who can utter the most glaring inconsist- 

 encies, with no fear of having his words challenged, 

 and in perfect security against being called upon to 

 furnish explanations. 



I shall now endeavour to deal with the second 

 problem which confronted me when I set myself to 

 consider what the checks are which prevent the 

 undue increase of the feral population of the globe. 



What principle can be supposed to govern the 

 amount of elimination so that it shall cease before the 

 living broods become too few to continue the species 

 in due numbers ? And, again, what principle does 

 there exist of recuperation when the numbers of any 

 species become reduced by the action of some abnormal 

 cause of destruction, such as long protracted seasons 

 of drought, wide-spreading forest fires, and other 

 catastrophes that do not belong to their ordinary 

 experience ? We shall first inquire how Nature 

 adjusts the elimination of her excess of births, so as 

 to maintain the equipoise of life as between her 

 carnivorous species and those species that are their 

 natural prey. 

 4 



