FAMILY INSTINCTS 63 
possession'of this parental instinct has an 
effect on the selection of enemies within the 
family : the likelihood of their selecting young 
is much reduced. As has been shown, young 
are more valuable to the species than old; 
therefore the species controls Natural Selec- 
tion in such a way, that more valuable young 
are preserved at the expense of less valuable 
parents. Families having this character are 
more likely to bring their young to maturity, 
and to thus reproduce themselves, than families 
in which this parental character is faint or 
absent. 
Thus, the FAMILY comes to possess this 
character which has arisen as a variation and 
has been preserved through heredity : just as 
within the individual, particular forms, struc- 
tures, or colours or other character having 
been born, becomes fixed. 
Natural Selection, dealing with families, 
produces family characters whose function is 
to preserve the more valuable members of the 
family, at the expense of the less valuable. 
To return to parental instincts, closely allied 
to the sacrificing instinct is a combative one. 
Parents will attack an enemy of their young. 
If they prove victorious, the instinct which 
directed their actions may be called combative ; 
