ABSTRACT
A marvelous example of the former interpretation was Calvert’s (1913) attempt to show that Darwin’s theory of natural selection was fallacious as well as pernicious. In essence, he argued that natural selection was a cruel mechanism by which nature would curb the in crease of populations. “It is to prevent such a struggle for existence and to preserve her offspring from such a fate that she painlessly elimi nates them in the earliest stage of existence [Calvert, 1913:33-34].” Nature, Calvert stated, produced unnecessary offspring to compensate
for unexpected calamity, hence to ensure continuity of the species. This important excess of progeny was then removed by the “cannibal habit of the male.’’ Therefore, one role of males in population dynamics was to assess population numbers, then to trim the excess by removing progeny, usually their own.
