The Evolution of Organisms 165 



rat. Under this category we have to include the 

 struggles of rival males, as among stags, and the 

 strange struggles of the sexes, as in spiders. 



(2) It may be between organisms not nearly 

 related, as between carnivores and herbivores, 

 between plants and snails. 



(3) It may be between organisms and the inani- 

 mate environment, as between birds a nd the win- 

 ter — a form of struggle entirely non-competitive. 



Or, again, we may distinguish different forms 

 of the struggle according to what is achieved by it 

 — survival from immediate death, a longer life, a 

 more comfortable life, a larger family, a more suc- 

 cessful family, and so on. 



In regard to the process of elimination, we must 

 carefully notice that it does not necessarily mean 

 that those eliminated come at once to a violent 

 end, as when locust devours locust, or the cold deci- 

 mates the birds in a single night; it often means 

 simply that the less fit die before the average time, 

 or are less successful than their neighbors in rear- 

 ing progeny. But whether the eliminative process 

 be quick or slow, gentle or severe, competitive or 

 environmental the result is the same, that the 

 relatively more fit tend to survive. We need not 

 waste time in combating the absurd misunder- 

 standing that fittest means best or highest accord- 

 ing to any evolutionary standard; it only means 

 fittest relatively to given conditions. The tape- 



