164 The Bible of Nature 



Struggle for Existence. — In thinking of the proc- 

 ess of Natural Selection, it is of real importance 

 to recognize, with Darwin, that the phrase *' strug- 

 gle for existence" is used '*in a wide and meta- 

 phorical sense," including much more than an 

 internecine scramble for the necessaries of life — 

 including indeed all endeavours for preservation 

 and welfare, not only of the individual, but of the 

 offspring as well. The struggle expresses itself 

 not merely in an elbowing and jostling around the 

 platter, but at every point where the effectiveness 

 of response which the creature makes to the stimuli 

 playing upon it, is of critical moment. It is much 

 more than a long-drawn-out series of family quar- 

 rels ending in more room and food for a few sur- 

 viving members; it may often be more justly de- 

 scribed as an endeavour after well-being. And 

 what may have been primarily self-regarding im- 

 pulses become replaced by others which are dis- 

 tinctively species-maintaining, the self failing to 

 find realization apart from its family and its 

 kindred. 



We may gain some clearness when we notice 

 that struggle is manifold. 



(1) It may be between near kin as when a tad- 

 pole eats its brother tadpole, or when the em- 

 bryos in the dog-whelk's capsule on the shore play 

 the same game, and illustrate cannibalism in the 

 cradle, or when locust devours locust, and rat kills 



