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too hot a sun would kill the young plant. What will be the con 
sequences of these accidents ? Are we able to apply to this case 
the law of Darwin, and to admit that in the struggle for existence 
which the vegetable sustains against the accidents of external con 
ditions—that is to say, against winds, rains, cold, heat—the result 
will always be the preservation of the strongest and fittest ? I do 
not think so. The intensity of the derangements produced by these 
agents varies indeed, it is true, in a certain measure with the con 
stitutional vigour of the vegetables attacked ; but as the result of 
different conditions, it may very well occur that the most vigorous 
plants will be killed, while the feeblest resist. In the case of the vine, 
for example, as the stems of the most vigorous are those whose buds 
open first, they are those also which the spring frosts will kill.”— 
(La Lutte pour VExistence ct VAssociation pour la Lutte. pp. 12-13.) 
“ Can we affirm,” he elsewhere says, “ that the most 
robust and best armed plants are also those which have 
the most chance of escaping the attacks of the different 
animals just mentioned ? By no means. It is the acci 
dent of circumstances which exercises on the fate of 
vegetables with respect to herbivorous and granivorous 
animals the preponderating influence. This vigorous plant 
will be devoured by the caterpillars, while another of the 
same sort, much more feeble, will escape this danger. The 
first will have no offspring; the second, on the contrary, 
will perpetuate its race.”—(/>. 16.) 
The same argument applies to animals no less than to 
plants. Whether Mr. Darwin’s theory of Sexual Selection 
be sustained or not, there are certain broad facts which 
can scarcely be denied. Where there is a struggle between 
rivals, the strongest will win in the fight, barring accidents; 
and whether or not it be true that “ none but the brave 
deserve the fair,” the “ brave ” who wins the battle also 
wins a spouse. Hence it follows that among the expectant 
males which are looking forward to a new season of love 
and courtship, the most vigorous will win the day, and 
will carry off the more vigorous and better-nourished 
females who arc ready to enter into courtship before their