378 Waste . [July, 
organic matter, all animals are predatory. Many are 
destroyed by unfavourable circumstances, by extremes of 
temperature, by deficiency or excess of moisture. A fish 
deposits its spawn in stream or pool, and the water dries up 
in a rainless season ; or a violent flood conveys the spawn 
along with the mud or sand away over the fields, and when 
it retires leaves them to perish. Of the seeds and germs 
of the vegetable world it is no exaggeration to say that only 
a fractional minority comes in contact with the soil at all. 
Numbers fall or are driven upon the leaves or stems of other 
plants, where it is impossible for them to germinate. Others 
fall upon surfaces of rock and stone ; others again reach the 
soil, but where it is unsuitable in quality or in situations 
where their growth is rendered abortive by dense shade. 
An incalculable number of the seeds of land plants perish 
by being driven into rivers, lakes, and seas. More striking 
still is the waste of pollen, the male reproductive element of 
plants. In a great class of the vegetable kingdom, the so- 
called anemophilous plants — of which the grasses, the 
sedges, the firs, and pines are instances — this pollen is con- 
veyed to the female organs of the species by the agency of 
the wind. Every particle which falls in any other situation 
is wasted. If we expose in spring-time, when such plants 
are in flower, plates of glass coated with glycerine, and 
afterwards examine them with the microscope, we recognise 
grains of pollen of many species. Thus we have proof that 
this fertilising element is distributed quite promiscuously. 
Hence if the flowers are to be fecundated the supply of 
pollen must be indefinitely greater than what would be 
sufficient if every grain were conveyed to the place where it 
is wanted. It has further been remarked by botanists that 
this waste has increased and is increasing. In other words, 
many plants, such as the grasses and sedges, formerly ferti- 
lised by the aid of inseCts, have become anemophilous— 
wind-fecundated — by a process of degeneration. 
Believers in competition or “ natural selection ” may here 
perhaps urge that the destruction of seeds, germs, or ova, 
which we have just described, is but a part of the process 
which eliminates the individuals least fitted to survive. 
This, however, is not the case : when the seed has germi- 
nated, when the egg is hatched, the stronger and healthier 
young plant or animal may have a certain advantage as 
compared with its less vigorous and healthy rivals. But 
whilst the ovum or the seed remains such the chances of 
survival depend on no inherent attributes, but on purely ex- 
ternal agencies, such as, for want of a better name, we are 
