INTERDEPENDENCE 71 



petual strife in Nature has been clear enough. But 

 hard, selfish, cruel, brutal though the struggle 

 frequently is, though the strong will often trample 

 mercilessly on the weak and let the unfit go to the 

 wall without any consideration whatever ; yet the 

 very strongest and fittest individual could not sur- 

 vive for a moment by itself alone. And what is 

 just as remarkable as the struggle between indi- 

 viduals is their dependence upon one another. 



All plants depend upon the natural elements — 

 the soil, water, air, and light. Animals depend on 

 plants. And many animals depend upon other 

 animals. A forest tree in its maturity is covered 

 with blossoms, some conspicuous, others incon- 

 spicuous to sight, but very conspicuous to smell. 

 These blossoms, either by sight or scent, attract 

 butterflies, bees, moths, and other insects to sip 

 their nectar, and in so doing carry away the pollen 

 of the flowers, and unwittingly pass it on to another 

 flower and fertilise it. The insect thus enables the 

 tree to procreate its species. But the butterfly, 

 after sipping the nectar of the flower of the tree, 

 deposits its eggs on the under surface of the leaves, 

 and the leaves give nourishment to the caterpillars 

 into which these eggs develop. Besides this, the 

 flowers, having been fertilised by the insects, 

 develop into fruits or berries containing seeds ; and 

 these fruits, berries, and seeds form food for 

 monkeys, birds, bats, and rodents. In quarrelling 

 for these many are dropped and form food for mice 

 and others below. Birds, finding food so near, 

 pair, build their nests, and bring up their young in 

 its branches. And in addition to the birds which 



