«>24 LIl'E ; OUTLINES OF GENERAL BIOLOGY 



In one case there was a Tardigrade, or Sloth-Animalcule. The 

 interest of the study is twofold, for it shows how animals may 

 adapt themselves to a very strange and somewhat risky habitat, 

 and it illustrates the characteristic insurgence of animals in seeking 

 out niches of opportunity. 



\Vh.\les and the Le.\gue of Nations. — There seems to be 

 a growiuL,' recognition of man's trusteeship of the Animal Kingdom. 

 1-or while there is still much to deplore in the way of thoughtless- 

 ness and ruthlessness, there seems reason to believe that more and 

 more people are beginning to feel the disgracefulness of allowing 

 the greedy extermination of animals that are not directly inimical. 



Pitcher of a Pitcher-plant {Nepenthes hicalcarata) , so-called from two peculiar 

 spinous processes (5) below the lid (4). These may help to thwart insect- 

 cat ing intruders. The main cavity of the pitcher is marked (3), and its 



stalk [z). 



And it is not merely a scientific and aesthetic loss that is involved 

 wlun a fine type disappears for ever: it may imply a short-sighted 

 economic impoverishment. This applies, for instance, to the whales 

 of the southern seas, which are disappearing rapidly before im- 

 regulated fishing. Besides the southern Right whale, Bala^na aus- 

 tralis, a near relative of the Greenland Right whale, Balajna 

 mysticetus, which used to be so common in the North, there are 

 "hnnrrs", "humpbacks", "thrashers", and "blackfish". In the 

 'nineties of last century these great whales were represented by 

 immense schools in Antarctic Seas, but they have been hunted so 

 jxTsistently of recent years by Argentine, Chilian, Norwegian, 

 I-rench, and British whalers that extinction seems to be already 

 near. This would be an impoverishment of the world's resources. 



