30 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



CANNIBALISM IN THE CRADLE 



The struggle for existence means all the 

 answers-back that living creatures make to 

 surrounding difficulties and limitations. It 

 includes experiments in co-operation and 

 mutual aid, as well as experiments in com- 

 petition. At one time it may take the form 

 of increased parental care ; at another time 

 it may mean a sharpening of teeth and 

 claws. 



We must not blink those cases where the 



struggle is terribly keen for immediate life or 



death. Let us take an instance. Fastened to 



the rocks there are great bunches of chaffy 



capsules the egg-cases of the Great Whelk or 



Roaring Buckie (Buccinum undatum), whose 



shell children hold to their ears. Sometimes 



the bunch, made by several whelks working 



together, is as big as one's head. In each 



capsule there are many developing eggs, and as 



these hatch out into larvae they turn upon one 



another. Those furthest advanced eat the 



others the leaders the laggards till only a 



few are left in each capsule. This is struggle 



to the death at the very threshold of life. It 



is cannibalism in the cradle. The empty 



