XXI. NATURAL DEATH IN THE ANIMAL 



WORLD 



MR. F. G. AFLALO, in the St. James's Gazette, 

 suggested that if death by accident is comparatively 

 rare among animals, those which die a natural death 

 meet it in the form of starvation. It is difficult to 

 avoid the conclusion that wild animals, enfeebled by 

 weakness or physical decay, do so perish, because of 

 the absence of aid in sickness. If the bills of mortality 

 from causes other than the violence of predatory species 

 could be made out for the animal world, there would 

 probably be good ground for the conclusion that this 

 lingering death is in store for the majority. 



The subject is complicated by a kind of mystery 

 which has been long recognised in common experience, 

 and is now attracting some of the attention it deserves 

 from travellers and naturalists the disappearance, 

 namely, of the animal dead, other than those killed by 

 accident or violence. In tropical countries rapid decay 

 dissolves the tissues of flesh, and bone-devouring beasts 



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