60 THE REALM OF ORGANISMS CONTRASTED 



exigencies of the seasons, and to recurrent risks of injury. 

 It may be subtly adapted to its mate, in exquisite symbiosis 

 to its offspring, to its ante-natal life, and to dying at the 

 proper time! Wherever you tap organic Nature, Romanes 

 said, it seems to flow with purpose. The theory of this will 

 be discussed later on, but in the meantime without pressing 

 the word purpose let us emphasise the fact that almost all 

 living creatures are definitely and detailedly fit for the 

 particular conditions of their life. There can be no doubt 

 that we live in a world of fitnesses, that we need to search 

 to find misfits. When we think we have found them, we 

 have generally made a mistake. This adaptiveness is an- 

 other large fact of life, which, whatever be the scientific 

 theory of it, must be incorporated in a concrete Philosophy 

 of Nature. Let us take a few illustrations. 



The structure of a long bone in a mammal is architectur- 

 ally adapted to give the utmost firmness with the minimum 

 expenditure of material; the pollen-basket on the hind-legs 

 of worker-bees is adapted in detail to carrying the nutritive 

 pollen, the golden, or otherwise coloured, germinal dust; the 

 leaf of the Venus fly-trap or of the sundew is adapted with 

 no little subtlety to catching insects; the parts of flowers 

 are often adapted to attract insect-visitors and to make the 

 most of them when they come; the colours and patterns 

 of leaf-insects are adapted to harmonise with the foliage 

 on which they settle ; the heart of the ptarmigan is adapted 

 to the strain of high altitudes, and the shoes which the 

 ruffed grouse puts on in winter are adapted for treading 

 on the lightly compacted snow; the mongoose is chemically 

 adapted to resist snake poison; the tendrils of the mer- 

 maid's purse are non-living products of the living skate 

 physically adapted to fasten the egg to seaweed ; the flatfish 



