i4o iff THE GUIANA FOREST. 



far away from dry land, till it became a little 

 world in itself, with carnivorous and herbivorous 

 animals, and plants, all living, fighting, and killing 

 each other, but still keeping up the balance of life. 



Although we are continually speaking of " the 

 struggle for existence" and "survival of the fittest," 

 few, it seems, are able to appreciate what these 

 sentences mean, but to the naturalist in the forest 

 they are full of suggestions. If it were possible to 

 have absolute peace throughout a world where 

 there was no difficulty, sickness, or death, it could 

 only consist with a dulness of which we can hardly 

 have any conception. From the lowest plant to 

 the highest animal, all have to work hard and get 

 material to build up and keep alive those beautiful 

 structures which we admire so much. Except a 

 very few, all live by the destruction of others, and 

 have to be continually trying to circumvent their 

 neighbours to escape extermination. How exactly 

 they are fitted to contend with adverse circum- 

 stances is shown by the fact that so many survive, 

 and although in the long ages which have passed 

 since life first originated on the earth, the destruction 

 has undoubtedly been enormous, it must have been 

 always of little importance in comparison with the 

 survivals. 



This is beautifully exemplified in a thousand 



