28 EVOLUTION. 



they live, have escaped the attacks of enemies, or 

 have been better able to secure food, while those 

 less favored for concealment have perished. The 

 butterfly that most closely resembled the disagreea- 

 ble kind had the least chance of being devoured. 

 The plants that most resembled insects secured the 

 visits of the insects necessary to distribute their pol- 

 len and ensure the propagation of their kind. Thus 

 the survival of the fittest is secured by these resem- 

 blances, and the tendency in successive generations 

 is toward greater likeness to protective or useful 

 forms. 



This mimicry of animals is one of the hardest 

 things to explain upon the special-creation theory. 

 The Creator is supposed to have made all these 

 distinct forms ; but some, especially adapted to be 

 the food of others, he has gifted with powers of con- 

 cealment, while others are left without protection, a 

 seeming exhibition of injustice and partiality. 



Distribution. 



The distribution of animals and plants over the 

 earth's surface is made intelligible by the Evolution 

 theory that all the individuals of the same species 

 have proceeded from some one source, and have 

 been scattered by various means, such as winds, cur- 

 rents, seeds attached to the feet of birds, and the 

 migrations of animals. It explains why oceanic 

 islands have few inhabitants, and often of a peculiar 



