2at) 



mechanism which is self-adapting and elastic, consisting as 

 it does of predatory creatures, that increase and decrease in 

 number in exact proportion as their prey increases or decreases; 

 in other words, just as they are wanted. Who has ever heard 

 of objectors suggesting any better plan, or, indeed, any alter- 

 native at all ? Under the circumstances they might, perhaps, 

 " protest a little less/' 



Now, if the carnivorous animals are indispensable as Nature's 

 executioners, it is as well that they should be as perfect in- 

 struments of destruction as possible. No one, then, need 

 shrink from contemplating the lithe limbs, the terrible teeth, 

 the furious rage of the tiger ; or the powerful flight, the fierce 

 beak, the hooked talons of the eagle; or even the noiseless 

 gliding form, the poisonous fangs, the crushing folds of the 

 snake. If they have to destroy life, at any rate let them do it 

 efl'ectively. 



Another point deserves attention. Do the animals that are 

 killed suffer pain, or are they not probably in a kind of 

 mesmeric trance induced by the shock to the nervous system ? 

 According to Dr. Livingstone's recorded experience of his 

 sensations when a lion was crunching his arm, there would 

 seem to be much to be said for this latter view. A vast 

 number of facts have convinced entomologists that insects 

 scarcely feel at all. 



Again, it is well to remember that the reign of the carnivora, 

 as far as the larger animals are concerned, is only preparatory 

 to man's appearance. Civilised man gradually takes upon' 

 himself the entire charge of the domestic animals, which are 

 mostly vegetable-feeders, and the carnivorous mammals then 

 die out, unless artificially preserved. One more point in this 

 connexion. Those assailants of the benevolent purposes of 

 Nature who have dilated so largely upon the carnivorous 

 forms of life have been strangely silent about the scavengers. 

 There can be no cruelty in feeding upon the dead. Now 

 there are whole genera belonging to various divisions of the 

 animal series whose function is that of clearing away all 

 decaying organic matter. Not only are there the vultures 

 and similar carrion-eating birds, the hysenas, jackals, 

 crocodiles, and so on, but an enormous number of insects 

 which, either in their larval or perfect form, are expressly 

 adapted to feed upon putrefying animal matter. It is un- 

 necessary to dilate upon the useful part they play in the 

 economy of the world. Every one who is accustomed to 

 country walks knows how rare a sight a dead animal is in 

 Nature, except it has been killed by man. 



8. Vegetable and Animal Parasites. — There is, no doubt, at 



