THE WEB OP LIFE 61 



occurs in the quite unrelated true ants. Finally, 

 the web is illustrated by the numerous boarders, 

 mostly beetles, that are found in the termitaries — 

 not hostile intruders or parasites, but guests which 

 are fed and cared for apparently for the sake of 

 a palatable exudation with a pleasant, narcotising 

 effect on the termites. With a centre in termites, 

 what a variety of interests must we not include 

 within the radius of their hfe and work! — ^fungi 

 and trees, beetles and birds, lizards and ant-eaters, 

 and man more than any. 



The Hand of Life upon the Earth. — The 

 hand of life has been working upon the earth for 

 untold ages. Take plants, for instance. The sea- 

 weeds lessen the force of the waves, the lichens 

 eat into the rocks, the mosses form huge sponges 

 on the moors which keep the streams flowing 

 in days of drought. Many little plants are for 

 ever smoothing away the wrinkles on the earth's — 

 their mother's — face, and they adorn her with 

 jewels. Others that have formed coal have en- 

 riched her with ages of entrapped sunUght. The 

 grass — which began to appear in Tertiary ages — 

 protects the earth like a garment ; the forests 

 affect rainfall and temper climate, besides sheltering 

 multitudes of living things, to many of whom every 

 blow of the axe is a death-knell. No plant, from 

 bacterium to oak-tree, lives or dies to itself, or 

 is without its influence upon the earth. So among 

 animals there are destructive borers and burrowers 

 and conservative agents, such as the coral-polyps 

 and the chalk-forming Foraminifera. 



Pbacticai< Importance op a Realisation op 

 THE Web op Life. — What has Darwinism to do 

 with human life ? The answer at this stage in 



