Origin of Species Variorum

→ I am convinced that 1859 1860

OMIT 1861 1866 1869 1872

←Subtitle not present 1859 1860 1861 1869 1872 The Term, Struggle for Existence, used in a large sense. 1866

→ Struggle for Existence 1859 1860 1861

OMIT 1866

We will now discuss in a little more detail the struggle for existence. In my future work this subject

will

shall

be treated, as it well deserves, at

~~much~~

much

greater length. The elder

Candolle and Lyell have largely and philosophically shown that all organic beings are exposed to severe competition. In regard to plants, no one has treated this subject with more spirit and ability than W. Herbert, Dean of Manchester, evidently the result of his great horticultural knowledge. Nothing is easier than to admit in words the truth of the universal struggle for life, or more

difficult—at

difficult—

least I have found it

so—than

so—

~~than~~

than

constantly to bear this conclusion in mind. Yet unless it be thoroughly engrained in the mind, →I am convinced that the whole economy of nature, with every fact on distribution, rarity, abundance, extinction, and variation, will be dimly seen or quite misunderstood. We behold the face of nature bright with gladness, we often see superabundance of food; we do not

see

see,

or we

forget

forget,

that the birds which are idly singing round us mostly live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly destroying life; or we forget how largely these songsters, or their eggs, or their nestlings, are destroyed by birds and beasts of prey; we do not always bear in mind,

that,

that

though food may be now superabundant, it is not so at all seasons of each recurring year. →

I should premise that I use

this

the

term →Struggle for Existence 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,

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