NATURE'S INSURGENT SON 13 



with which uneducated writers so frequently compare 

 it. It differs essentially in this that in Nature's struggle 

 for existence, death, immediate obliteration, is the fate 

 of the vanquished, whilst the only reward to the victors 

 few, very few, but rare and beautiful in the fitness 

 which has carried them to victory is the permission 

 to reproduce their kind to carry on by heredity to 

 another generation the specific qualities by which they 

 triumphed. 



It is not generally realized how severe is the pres- 

 sure and competition in Nature not between different 

 species, but between the immature population of one 

 and the same species, precisely because they are of the 

 same species and have exactly the same needs. From 

 a human point of view the pressure under which many 

 wild things live is awful in its severity and relentless 

 tenacity. Not only are new forms established by natural 

 selection, but the old forms, when they exactly fit the 

 mould presented as it were for competitive filling, are 

 maintained by the same unremitting process. A dis- 

 tinctive quality in the beauty of natural productions 

 (in which man delights) is due to the unobtrusive yet 

 tremendous slaughter of the unfit which is incessantly 

 going on, and the absolute restriction of the privilege of 

 parentage to the happy few who attain to the standard 

 described as ' the fittest.' 



7. THE LIMITED VARIETY OF NATURE'S 



PRODUCTS. 



The process of development of an immense variety 

 of animal and vegetable forms has proceeded in this 

 way through countless ages of geologic time, but it 

 must not be supposed that any and every conceivable 

 form and variety has been produced. There are only 



