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by the term natural selection. On 6 June 1860, the year after the publication of The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, he wrote to his friend, the geologist Charles Lyell: "I suppose 'natural selection' was bad term; but to change it now, I think, would make confusion worse confounded." On 26 September, he confided to the botanist Asa Gray: "If I had to write my book again I would use 'Natural Preservation' and drop 'selection"' (Burkhardt et al. 1993). The substitution of "natural preservation" for "natural selection'' might have precluded the stubbornly short-sighted insistence that natural selection is confined to individuals, because it is undeniable that groups, species, and larger categories of organisms are preserved along with the individuals that compose them.

Happily, as the behavior of animals is studied more deeply and perceptively, as more and more examples of cooperation among them are disclosed, as the coevolution of animals and plants is investigated, the attitude of the biological community toward some of the heresies appears to be softening. It is beginning to be realized that the gap between human emotions and those of other animals need not be as wide as that in their intellectual development. It is becoming apparent that the selection of individuals is only the first step in an extremely complex process that extends to groups of individuals and finally to whole species, and even to two or more mutually dependent species. When we recognize the continuity of development from lifeless matter through all stages of evolving life, we may finally perceive that purposeful activity is not confined to humankind. We may even go beyond this to recognize that, in postulating a teleological universe, Aristotle, the first great naturalist-philosopher of whom we have knowledge, was not wholly wrong.

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Biodiversity or Biocompatibilty?

Many years ago, I established a homestead beside a large tract of tropical rain forest, in a region still wild. Around my new dwelling, I planted fruit trees and shrubs with colorful flowers, to provide nectar or berries for birds, and daily placed bananas for them on a board in a tree. Soon many, from the adjoining woodland as well as those of open country, nested around my house. With the troublesome exception of the nest-stealing Piratic Flycatcher, all dwelt peaceably together, singing their songs and rearing their young. But predators, chiefly snakes, small mammals, and an occasional raptor, invaded the garden to capture the adults or plunder their nests.

What should I do about this distressing situation? I believed that I owed protection to the birds that I encouraged to nest near me. After much thought, I adopted the principle of harmonious association. I would do all that I could to protect the creatures that dwelt harmoniously together, taking measures to remove those that disrupted this concord. For the adjoining forest, I preferred the principle of laissez-faire, or refraining from meddling with nature. Although the situation there, where predators abounded, was not ideal, it appeared too big and complex to be controlled by me, or by anyone.

Today, half a century later, humans have increased so greatly, and made their presence felt so widely, that the situation nearly

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everywhere is becoming more like that in farmlands and gardens than in wild, undisturbed woodland. During the same interval, the conservation movement has grown much stronger, notably in tropical countries where it was weak. Other than that all true conservationists try to preserve some part of nature, and beyond general agreement that the protection of habitats is indispensable, a wide diversity of preferences is evident among conservationists. Some are more concerned about forests, others about wetlands or oceans. Some are interested mainly in a special group of animalsbirds or bats or amphibians. Some try to protect or increase raptorial birds, while others deplore the decline