INFANCY 23 



maternal process. She prepared and pro- 

 tected her nest, and guarded the young four 

 days, but when she bade them farewell the 

 set of instincts called out by the natal proc- 

 esses vanished with her going. 



Maternity over, she was again the bold 

 feeder. In the presence of her own young 

 she now felt only the hunger call. Memory 

 of them she had none; so on them she fed 

 and was satisfied. 1 



So it was with this school, that in the 

 midst of life there was always death. Na- 

 ture eliminated the unfit. Sometimes by 

 disease from within, or by waves from with- 

 out; or, again, by the foraging of carnivori, 

 the school was cut down. 



But always some escaped. Nature kills, 

 but nature makes provision for life. While 

 some perished others thrived. And through 

 the very activity expended in escaping death 

 they developed a greater hardihood than 

 had their lives been an existence of security. 

 They fought to live, and the fighting made 

 them fit to live. 



So passed five months. And at the end 



JPor a fuller discussion of the psychology offish, the reader is referred to the 

 admirable article in The Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution, 1899, pp. 



