78 STEUGGLE FOE EXISTENCE. [Chap. UL 



beasts of prey ; we do not always bear in mind, that, 

 though food may be now superabundant, it is not so at 

 all seasons of each recurring year. 



The Term, Struggle for Existence, used in a large sense. 



I should premise that I use this term in a large and 

 metaphorical sense including dependence of one being on 

 another, and including (which is more important) not 

 only the life of the individual, but success in leaving 

 progeny. Two canine animals, in a time of dearth, may 

 be truly said to struggle with each other which shall 

 get food and live. But a plant on the edge of a desert 

 is said to struggle for life against the drought, though 

 more properly it should be said to be dependent on 

 the moisture. A plant which annually produces a 

 thousand seeds, of which only one of an average comes 

 to maturity, may be more truly said to struggle with 

 the plants of the same and other kinds which already 

 clothe the ground. The mistletoe is dependent on the 

 apple and a few other trees, but can only in a far- 

 fetched sense be said to struggle with these trees, for, if 

 too many of these parasites grow on the same tree, it 

 languishes and dies. But several seedling mistletoes, 

 growing close together on the same branch, may more 

 truly be said to struggle with each other. As the 

 mistletoe is disseminated by birds, its existence depends 

 on them ; and it may metaphorically be said to struggle 

 with other fruit-bearing plants, in tempting the birds to 

 devour and thus disseminate its seeds. In these several 

 senses, which pass into each other, I use for convenience' 

 sake the general term of Struggle for Existence. 



