274 
Is Nature Perfect ? 
[April, 
animal or plant, to the fauna and flora of any given country, 
and to the animal and vegetable kingdoms in their entirety. 
We refer to the attribute of “ perfection.” We must confess 
ourselves utterly at a loss to know how this notion has been 
reached. We have asked believers in this doCtrine to tell 
us by what marks this perfection is to be recognised. We 
have invited them to take up a plant or an animal, and to 
demonstrate that any departure from or addition to its pre- 
sent standard, whether structurally or functionally, would 
be injurious. But the only answer we have received has 
been a cloud of generalities. The very idea of perfection 
seems to us unthinkable in reference to a crowd of species 
engaged, as all Nature is, in mutual conflict. It is by dint 
of the imperfections of the Carnivora in speed, strength, or 
cunning that their prey — say the deer or antelope — escapes. 
It is in virtue of the imperfections of the latter animals that 
they are captured by the wolf or the leopard. Again, were 
all animals and vegetables perfect in themselves and in 
reference to their surroundings, we may ask how it comes 
that so many species have been exterminated, and that 
others are even now in course of extermination ? It may 
be contended that the surroundings have altered. This, 
then, is an admission that the adaptation to circumstances 
is not always perfect. But further, some other species, or 
at least groups, coeval with such as have disappeared, are 
still found surviving. Here we have consequently the fol- 
lowing riddle to solve : — Two groups of “ perfect ” animals, 
each in “ perfect ” harmony with its surroundings, are given. 
These circumstances being altered, the one group is no 
longer in harmony, and consequently perishes, while the 
other remains equally well adapted to a different set of con- 
ditions, and survives ! Yet more ; admitting the perfection 
dogma, we must suppose the fauna and flora of any region — 
say New Zealand — better adapted to its soil and climate, 
and to all other local conditions, than any strange animal 
or plant can be. On introducing such strange species we 
should therefore see them placed at a disadvantage, and 
without constant human aid and supervision prove unable to 
exist at all. But in reality the very reverse is the case ; the 
new comers are not only found able to exist independently 
of man’s assistance, but to spread in opposition to his most 
strenuous efforts, and even to crowd out the natives. The 
notion, therefore, that every local fauna and flora forms a 
perfect whole, perfectly adapted to the circumstances in 
which it is placed, must be given up as a most glaring 
error. 
