224 SEPTEMBER 



interests us who have to live in it. Nothing can be 

 worse than the example set by Nature herself in 

 the matter of reverence for life, whether it be in 

 noble or humble organisms. Tens of thousands of 

 mammoths must have perished simultaneously by a 

 widespread murrain, catastrophe, or meteorological 

 crisis, to account for the abundance of their remains 

 in Northern Europe ; the end of the great auk was 

 precipitated by the collapse of their last breeding 

 station into the ocean ; and as for the insect world, 

 no one can have passed beyond the threshold of 

 inquiry into that without being horrified by the 

 systematic cruelty practised by one species upon 

 another. Cruelty apart, the wastefulness is appal- 

 ling. Out of sixteen to twenty-five thousand larvae 

 hatched from the eggs of a single oil beetle (Meloe) 

 during an ordinary season, perhaps not more than 

 three or four attain the perfect form. All the rest 

 perish, and are intended to perish, victims to vicissi- 

 tudes which are part of the deliberate design of their 

 life-history. It is true that the precaution to secure 

 the perpetuation of every species are infinite and 

 astonishing; but it is part of the plan that the 

 Destroyer of delights and Sunderer of companies 

 should be at work incessantly. 



