At a very early period, before man attained to his present rank in the

scale, many of his conditions would be different from what now obtains

amongst savages. Judging from the analogy of the lower animals, he

would then either live with a single female, or be a polygamist. The

most powerful and able males would succeed best in obtaining attractive

females. They would also succeed best in the general struggle for life,

and in defending their females, as well as their offspring, from

enemies of all kinds. At this early period the ancestors of man would

not be sufficiently advanced in intellect to look forward to distant

contingencies; they would not foresee that the rearing of all their

children, especially their female children, would make the struggle for

life severer for the tribe. They would be governed more by their

instincts and less by their reason than are savages at the present day.

They would not at that period have partially lost one of the strongest

of all instincts, common to all the lower animals, namely the love of

their young offspring; and consequently they would not have practised

female infanticide. Women would not have been thus rendered scarce, and

polyandry would not have been practised; for hardly any other cause,

except the scarcity of women seems sufficient to break down the natural

and widely prevalent feeling of jealousy, and the desire of each male

to possess a female for himself. Polyandry would be a natural

stepping-stone to communal marriages or almost promiscuous intercourse;

though the best authorities believe that this latter habit preceded

polyandry. During primordial times there would be no early betrothals,

for this implies foresight. Nor would women be valued merely as useful

slaves or beasts of burthen. Both sexes, if the females as well as the

males were permitted to exert any choice, would choose their partners

not for mental charms, or property, or social position, but almost

solely from external appearance. All the adults would marry or pair,

and all the offspring, as far as that was possible, would be reared; so

that the struggle for existence would be periodically excessively

severe. Thus during these times all the conditions for sexual selection

would have been more favourable than at a later period, when man had

advanced in his intellectual powers but had retrograded in his

instincts. Therefore, whatever influence sexual selection may have had

in producing the differences between the races of man, and between man

and the higher Quadrumana, this influence would have been more powerful

at a remote period than at the present day, though probably not yet

wholly lost.

THE MANNER OF ACTION OF SEXUAL SELECTION WITH MANKIND.

With primeval man under the favourable conditions just stated, and with

those savages who at the present time enter into any marriage tie,

sexual selection has probably acted in the following manner, subject to

greater or less interference from female infanticide, early betrothals,

etc. The strongest and most vigorous men—those who could best defend

and hunt for their families, who were provided with the best weapons

and possessed the most property, such as a large number of dogs or

other animals,—would succeed in rearing a greater average number of

offspring than the weaker and poorer members of the same tribes. There

can, also, be no doubt that such men would generally be able to select

the more attractive women. At present the chiefs of nearly every tribe

throughout the world succeed in obtaining more than one wife. I hear

from Mr. Mantell that, until recently, almost every girl in New Zealand

who was pretty, or promised to be pretty, was tapu to some chief. With

the Kafirs, as Mr. C. Hamilton states (17. ‘Anthropological Review,’

Jan. 1870, p. xvi.), “the chiefs generally have the pick of the women

for many miles round, and are most persevering in establishing or

confirming their privilege.” We have seen that each race has its own

style of beauty, and we know that it is natural to man to admire each

characteristic point in his domestic animals, dress, ornaments, and

personal appearance, when carried a little beyond the average. If then

the several foregoing propositions be admitted, and I cannot see that

they are doubtful, it would be an inexplicable circumstance if the

selection of the more attractive women by the more powerful men of each

tribe, who would rear on an average a greater number of children, did

not after the lapse of many generations somewhat modify the character

of the tribe.

When a foreign breed of our domestic animals is introduced into a new

country, or when a native breed is long and carefully attended to,

either for use or ornament, it is found after several generations to

have undergone a greater or less amount of change whenever the means of

comparison exist. This follows from unconscious selection during a long

series of generations—that is, the preservation of the most approved

individuals—without any wish or expectation of such a result on the

part of the breeder. So again, if during many years two careful

breeders rear animals of the same family, and do not compare them

together or with a common standard, the animals are found to have

become, to the surprise of their owners, slightly different. (18. The

‘Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,’ vol. ii. pp.

210-217.) Each breeder has impressed, as von Nathusius well expresses

it, the character of his own mind—his own taste and judgment—on his

animals. What reason, then, can be assigned why similar results should

not follow from the long-continued selection of the most admired women

by those men of each tribe who were able to rear the greatest number of

children? This would be unconscious selection, for an effect would be

produced, independently of any wish or expectation on the part of the

men who preferred certain women to others.

Let us suppose the members of a tribe, practising some form of

marriage, to spread over an unoccupied continent, they would soon split

up into distinct hordes, separated from each other by various barriers,

and still more effectually by the incessant wars between all barbarous

nations. The hordes would thus be exposed to slightly different

conditions and habits of life, and would sooner or later come to differ

in some small degree. As soon as this occurred, each isolated tribe

would form for itself a slightly different standard of beauty (19. An

ingenious writer argues, from a comparison of the pictures of Raphael,

Rubens, and modern French artists, that the idea of beauty is not

absolutely the same even throughout Europe: see the ‘Lives of Haydn and

Mozart,’ by Bombet (otherwise M. Beyle), English translation, p. 278.);

and then unconscious selection would come into action through the more

powerful and leading men preferring certain women to others. Thus the

differences between the tribes, at first very slight, would gradually

and inevitably be more or less increased.

With animals in a state of nature, many characters proper to the males,

such as size, strength, special weapons, courage and pugnacity, have

been acquired through the law of battle. The semi-human progenitors of

man, like their allies the Quadrumana, will almost certainly have been

thus modified; and, as savages still fight for the possession of their

women, a similar process of selection has probably gone on in a greater

or less degree to the present day. Other characters proper to the males

of the lower animals, such as bright colours and various ornaments,

have been acquired by the more attractive males having been preferred

by the females. There are, however, exceptional cases in which the

males are the selectors, instead of having been the selected. We

recognise such cases by the females being more highly ornamented than

the males,—their ornamental characters having been transmitted

exclusively or chiefly to their female offspring. One such case has

been described in the order to which man belongs, that of the Rhesus

monkey.

Man is more powerful in body and mind than woman, and in the savage

state he keeps her in a far more abject state of bondage than does the

male of any other animal; therefore it is not surprising that he should

have gained the power of selection. Women are everywhere conscious of

the value of their own beauty; and when they have the means, they take

more delight in decorating themselves with all sorts of ornaments than

do men. They borrow the plumes of male birds, with which nature has

decked this sex, in order to charm the females. As women have long been

selected for beauty, it is not surprising that some of their successive

variations should have been transmitted exclusively to the same sex;

consequently that they should have transmitted beauty in a somewhat

higher degree to their female than to their male offspring, and thus

have become more beautiful, according to general opinion, than men.

Women, however, certainly transmit most of their characters, including

some beauty, to their offspring of both sexes; so that the continued

preference by the men of each race for the more attractive women,

according to their standard of taste, will have tended to modify in the

same manner all the individuals of both sexes belonging to the race.

With respect to the other form of sexual selection (which with the

lower animals is much the more common), namely, when the females are

the selectors, and accept only those males which excite or charm them

most, we have reason to believe that it formerly acted on our

progenitors. Man in all probability owes his beard, and perhaps some

other characters, to inheritance from an ancient progenitor who thus

gained his ornaments. But this form of selection may have occasionally

acted during later times; for in utterly barbarous tribes the women

have more power in choosing, rejecting, and tempting their lovers, or

of afterwards changing their husbands, than might have been expected.

As this is a point of some importance, I will give in detail such

evidence as I have been able to collect.

Hearne describes how a woman in one of the tribes of Arctic America

repeatedly ran away from her husband and joined her lover; and with the

Charruas of S. America, according to Azara, divorce is quite optional.

Amongst the Abipones, a man on choosing a wife bargains with the

parents about the price. But “it frequently happens that the girl

rescinds what has been agreed upon between the parents and the

bridegroom, obstinately rejecting the very mention of marriage.” She

often runs away, hides herself, and thus eludes the bridegroom. Captain

Musters who lived with the Patagonians, says that their marriages are

always settled by inclination; “if the parents make a match contrary to

the daughter’s will, she refuses and is never compelled to comply.” In

Tierra del Fuego a young man first obtains the consent of the parents

by doing them some service, and then he attempts to carry off the girl;

“but if she is unwilling, she hides herself in the woods until her

admirer is heartily tired of looking for her, and gives up the pursuit;

but this seldom happens.” In the Fiji Islands the man seizes on the

woman whom he wishes for his wife by actual or pretended force; but “on

reaching the home of her abductor, should she not approve of the match,

she runs to some one who can protect her; if, however, she is

satisfied, the matter is settled forthwith.” With the Kalmucks there is

a regular race between the bride and bridegroom, the former having a

fair start; and Clarke “was assured that no instance occurs of a girl

being caught, unless she has a partiality to the pursuer.” Amongst the

wild tribes of the Malay Archipelago there is also a racing match; and

it appears from M. Bourien’s account, as Sir J. Lubbock remarks, that

“the race, ‘is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,’ but to

the young man who has the good fortune to please his intended bride.” A

similar custom, with the same result, prevails with the Koraks of

North-Eastern Asia.

Turning to Africa: the Kafirs buy their wives, and girls are severely

beaten by their fathers if they will not accept a chosen husband; but

it is manifest from many facts given by the Rev. Mr. Shooter, that they

have considerable power of choice. Thus very ugly, though rich men,

have been known to fail in getting wives. The girls, before consenting

to be betrothed, compel the men to shew themselves off first in front

and then behind, and “exhibit their paces.” They have been known to

propose to a man, and they not rarely run away with a favoured lover.

So again, Mr. Leslie, who was intimately acquainted with the Kafirs,

says, “it is a mistake to imagine that a girl is sold by her father in

the same manner, and with the same authority, with which he would

dispose of a cow.” Amongst the degraded Bushmen of S. Africa, “when a

girl has grown up to womanhood without having been betrothed, which,

however, does not often happen, her lover must gain her approbation, as

well as that of the parents.” (20. Azara, ‘Voyages,’ etc., tom. ii. p.

23. Dobrizhoffer, ‘An Account of the Abipones,’ vol. ii. 1822, p. 207.

Capt. Musters, in ‘Proc. R. Geograph. Soc.’ vol. xv. p. 47. Williams on

the Fiji Islanders, as quoted by Lubbock, ‘Origin of Civilisation,’

1870, p. 79. On the Fuegians, King and Fitzroy, ‘Voyages of the

“Adventure” and “Beagle,”’ vol. ii. 1839, p. 182. On the Kalmucks,

quoted by M’Lennan, ‘Primitive Marriage,’ 1865, p. 32. On the Malays,

Lubbock, ibid. p. 76. The Rev. J. Shooter, ‘On the Kafirs of Natal,’

1857, pp. 52-60. Mr. D. Leslie, ‘Kafir Character and Customs,’ 1871, p.

4. On the Bush-men, Burchell, ‘Travels in S. Africa,’ ii. 1824, p. 59.

On the Koraks by McKennan, as quoted by Mr. Wake, in ‘Anthropologia,’

Oct. 1873, p. 75.) Mr. Winwood Reade made inquiries for me with respect

to the negroes of Western Africa, and he informs me that “the women, at

least among the more intelligent Pagan tribes, have no difficulty in

getting the husbands whom they may desire, although it is considered

unwomanly to ask a man to marry them. They are quite capable of falling

in love, and of forming tender, passionate, and faithful attachments.”

Additional cases could be given.

We thus see that with savages the women are not in quite so abject a

state in relation to marriage as has often been supposed. They can

tempt the men whom they prefer, and can sometimes reject those whom

they dislike, either before or after marriage. Preference on the part

of the women, steadily acting in any one direction, would ultimately

affect the character of the tribe; for the women would generally choose

not merely the handsomest men, according to their standard of taste,

but those who were at the same time best able to defend and support

them. Such well-endowed pairs would commonly rear a larger number of

offspring than the less favoured. The same result would obviously

follow in a still more marked manner if there was selection on both

sides; that is, if the more attractive, and at the same time more

powerful men were to prefer, and were preferred by, the more attractive

women. And this double form of selection seems actually to have

occurred, especially during the earlier periods of our long history.

We will now examine a little more closely some of the characters which

distinguish the several races of man from one another and from the

lower animals, namely, the greater or less deficiency of hair on the

body, and the colour of the skin. We need say nothing about the great

diversity in the shape of the features and of the skull between the

different races, as we have seen in the last chapter how different is

the standard of beauty in these respects. These characters will

therefore probably have been acted on through sexual selection; but we

have no means of judging whether they have been acted on chiefly from

the male or female side. The musical faculties of man have likewise

been already discussed.

ABSENCE OF HAIR ON THE BODY, AND ITS DEVELOPMENT ON THE FACE AND HEAD.

From the presence of the woolly hair or lanugo on the human foetus, and

of rudimentary hairs scattered over the body during maturity, we may

infer that man is descended from some animal which was born hairy and

remained so during life. The loss of hair is an inconvenience and

probably an injury to man, even in a hot climate, for he is thus

exposed to the scorching of the sun, and to sudden chills, especially

during wet weather. As Mr. Wallace remarks, the natives in all

countries are glad to protect their naked backs and shoulders with some

slight covering. No one supposes that the nakedness of the skin is any

direct advantage to man; his body therefore cannot have been divested

of hair through natural selection. (21. ‘Contributions to the Theory of

Natural Selection,’ 1870, p. 346. Mr. Wallace believes (p. 350) “that

some intelligent power has guided or determined the development of

man”; and he considers the hairless condition of the skin as coming

under this head. The Rev. T.R. Stebbing, in commenting on this view

(‘Transactions of Devonshire Association for Science,’ 1870) remarks,

that had Mr. Wallace “employed his usual ingenuity on the question of

man’s hairless skin, he might have seen the possibility of its

selection through its superior beauty or the health attaching to

superior cleanliness.”) Nor, as shewn in a former chapter, have we any

evidence that this can be due to the direct action of climate, or that

it is the result of correlated development.

The absence of hair on the body is to a certain extent a secondary

sexual character; for in all parts of the world women are less hairy

than men. Therefore we may reasonably suspect that this character has

been gained through sexual selection. We know that the faces of several

species of monkeys, and large surfaces at the posterior end of the body

of other species, have been denuded of hair; and this we may safely

attribute to sexual selection, for these surfaces are not only vividly

coloured, but sometimes, as with the male mandrill and female rhesus,

much more vividly in the one sex than in the other, especially during

the breeding-season. I am informed by Mr. Bartlett that, as these

animals gradually reach maturity, the naked surfaces grow larger

compared with the size of their bodies. The hair, however, appears to

have been removed, not for the sake of nudity, but that the colour of

the skin may be more fully displayed. So again with many birds, it

appears as if the head and neck had been divested of feathers through

sexual selection, to exhibit the brightly-coloured skin.

As the body in woman is less hairy than in man, and as this character

is common to all races, we may conclude that it was our female

semi-human ancestors who were first divested of hair, and that this

occurred at an extremely remote period before the several races had

diverged from a common stock. Whilst our female ancestors were

gradually acquiring this new character of nudity, they must have

transmitted it almost equally to their offspring of both sexes whilst

young; so that its transmission, as with the ornaments of many mammals

and birds, has not been limited either by sex or age. There is nothing

surprising in a partial loss of hair having been esteemed as an

ornament by our ape-like progenitors, for we have seen that innumerable

strange characters have been thus esteemed by animals of all kinds, and

have consequently been gained through sexual selection. Nor is it

surprising that a slightly injurious character should have been thus

acquired; for we know that this is the case with the plumes of certain

birds, and with the horns of certain stags.

The females of some of the anthropoid apes, as stated in a former

chapter, are somewhat less hairy on the under surface than the males;

and here we have what might have afforded a commencement for the

process of denudation. With respect to the completion of the process

through sexual selection, it is well to bear in mind the New Zealand

proverb, “There is no woman for a hairy man.” All who have seen

photographs of the Siamese hairy family will admit how ludicrously

hideous is the opposite extreme of excessive hairiness. And the king of

Siam had to bribe a man to marry the first hairy woman in the family;

and she transmitted this character to her young offspring of both

sexes. (22. The ‘Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,’

vol. ii. 1868, p. 237.)

Some races are much more hairy than others, especially the males; but

it must not be assumed that the more hairy races, such as the European,

have retained their primordial condition more completely than the naked

races, such as the Kalmucks or Americans. It is more probable that the

hairiness of the former is due to partial reversion; for characters

which have been at some former period long inherited are always apt to

return. We have seen that idiots are often very hairy, and they are apt

to revert in other characters to a lower animal type. It does not

appear that a cold climate has been influential in leading to this kind

of reversion; excepting perhaps with the negroes, who have been reared

during several generations in the United States (23. ‘Investigations

into Military and Anthropological Statistics of American Soldiers,’ by

B.A. Gould, 1869, p. 568:—Observations were carefully made on the

hairiness of 2129 black and coloured soldiers, whilst they were

bathing; and by looking to the published table, “it is manifest at a

glance that there is but little, if any, difference between the white

and the black races in this respect.” It is, however, certain that

negroes in their native and much hotter land of Africa, have remarkably

smooth bodies. It should be particularly observed, that both pure

blacks and mulattoes were included in the above enumeration; and this

is an unfortunate circumstance, as in accordance with a principle, the

truth of which I have elsewhere proved, crossed races of man would be

eminently liable to revert to the primordial hairy character of their

early ape-like progenitors.), and possibly with the Ainos, who inhabit

the northern islands of the Japan archipelago. But the laws of

inheritance are so complex that we can seldom understand their action.

If the greater hairiness of certain races be the result of reversion,

unchecked by any form of selection, its extreme variability, even

within the limits of the same race, ceases to be remarkable. (24.

Hardly any view advanced in this work has met with so much disfavour

(see for instance, Sprengel, ‘Die Fortschritte des Darwinismus,’ 1874,

p. 80) as the above explanation of the loss of hair in mankind through

sexual selection; but none of the opposed arguments seem to me of much

weight, in comparison with the facts shewing that the nudity of the

skin is to a certain extent a secondary sexual character in man and in

some of the Quadrumana.)

With respect to the beard in man, if we turn to our best guide, the

Quadrumana, we find beards equally developed in both sexes of many

species, but in some, either confined to the males, or more developed

in them than in the females. From this fact and from the curious

arrangement, as well as the bright colours of the hair about the heads

of many monkeys, it is highly probable, as before explained, that the

males first acquired their beards through sexual selection as an

ornament, transmitting them in most cases, equally or nearly so, to

their offspring of both sexes. We know from Eschricht (25. ‘Ueber die

Richtung der Haare am Menschlichen Körper,’ in Müller’s ‘Archiv. für

Anat. und Phys.’ 1837, s. 40.) that with mankind the female as well as

the male foetus is furnished with much hair on the face, especially

round the mouth; and this indicates that we are descended from

progenitors of whom both sexes were bearded. It appears therefore at

first sight probable that man has retained his beard from a very early

period, whilst woman lost her beard at the same time that her body

became almost completely divested of hair. Even the colour of our

beards seems to have been inherited from an ape-like progenitor; for

when there is any difference in tint between the hair of the head and

the beard, the latter is lighter coloured in all monkeys and in man. In

those Quadrumana in which the male has a larger beard than that of the

female, it is fully developed only at maturity, just as with mankind;

and it is possible that only the later stages of development have been

retained by man. In opposition to this view of the retention of the

beard from an early period is the fact of its great variability in

different races, and even within the same race; for this indicates

reversion,—long lost characters being very apt to vary on

re-appearance.

Nor must we overlook the part which sexual selection may have played in

later times; for we know that with savages the men of the beardless

races take infinite pains in eradicating every hair from their faces as

something odious, whilst the men of the bearded races feel the greatest

pride in their beards. The women, no doubt, participate in these

feelings, and if so sexual selection can hardly have failed to have

effected something in the course of later times. It is also possible

that the long-continued habit of eradicating the hair may have produced

an inherited effect. Dr. Brown-Sequard has shewn that if certain

animals are operated on in a particular manner, their offspring are

affected. Further evidence could be given of the inheritance of the

effects of mutilations; but a fact lately ascertained by Mr. Salvin

(26. On the tail-feathers of Motmots, ‘Proceedings of the Zoological

Society,’ 1873, p. 429.) has a more direct bearing on the present

question; for he has shewn that the motmots, which are known habitually

to bite off the barbs of the two central tail-feathers, have the barbs

of these feathers naturally somewhat reduced. (27. Mr. Sproat has

suggested (‘Scenes and Studies of Savage Life,’ 1868, p. 25) this same

view. Some distinguished ethnologists, amongst others M. Gosse of

Geneva, believe that artificial modifications of the skull tend to be

inherited.) Nevertheless, with mankind the habit of eradicating the

beard and the hairs on the body would probably not have arisen until

these had already become by some means reduced.

It is difficult to form any judgment as to how the hair on the head

became developed to its present great length in many races. Eschricht

(28. ‘Ueber die Richtung,’ ibid. s. 40.) states that in the human

foetus the hair on the face during the fifth month is longer than that

on the head; and this indicates that our semi-human progenitors were

not furnished with long tresses, which must therefore have been a late

acquisition. This is likewise indicated by the extraordinary difference

in the length of the hair in the different races; in the negro the hair

forms a mere curly mat; with us it is of great length, and with the

American natives it not rarely reaches to the ground. Some species of

Semnopithecus have their heads covered with moderately long hair, and

this probably serves as an ornament and was acquired through sexual

selection. The same view may perhaps be extended to mankind, for we

know that long tresses are now and were formerly much admired, as may

be observed in the works of almost every poet; St. Paul says, “if a

woman have long hair, it is a glory to her;” and we have seen that in

North America a chief was elected solely from the length of his hair.

COLOUR OF THE SKIN.

The best kind of evidence that in man the colour of the skin has been

modified through sexual selection is scanty; for in most races the

sexes do not differ in this respect, and only slightly, as we have

seen, in others. We know, however, from the many facts already given

that the colour of the skin is regarded by the men of all races as a

highly important element in their beauty; so that it is a character

which would be likely to have been modified through selection, as has

occurred in innumerable instances with the lower animals. It seems at

first sight a monstrous supposition that the jet-blackness of the negro

should have been gained through sexual selection; but this view is

supported by various analogies, and we know that negroes admire their

own colour. With mammals, when the sexes differ in colour, the male is

often black or much darker than the female; and it depends merely on

the form of inheritance whether this or any other tint is transmitted

to both sexes or to one alone. The resemblance to a negro in miniature

of Pithecia satanas with his jet black skin, white rolling eyeballs,

and hair parted on the top of the head, is almost ludicrous.

The colour of the face differs much more widely in the various kinds of

monkeys than it does in the races of man; and we have some reason to

believe that the red, blue, orange, almost white and black tints of

their skin, even when common to both sexes, as well as the bright

colours of their fur, and the ornamental tufts about the head, have all

been acquired through sexual selection. As the order of development

during growth, generally indicates the order in which the characters of

a species have been developed and modified during previous generations;

and as the newly-born infants of the various races of man do not differ

nearly as much in colour as do the adults, although their bodies are as

completely destitute of hair, we have some slight evidence that the

tints of the different races were acquired at a period subsequent to

the removal of the hair, which must have occurred at a very early

period in the history of man.

A SUMMARY.

We may conclude that the greater size, strength, courage, pugnacity,

and energy of man, in comparison with woman, were acquired during

primeval times, and have subsequently been augmented, chiefly through

the contests of rival males for the possession of the females. The

greater intellectual vigour and power of invention in man is probably

due to natural selection, combined with the inherited effects of habit,

for the most able men will have succeeded best in defending and

providing for themselves and for their wives and offspring. As far as

the extreme intricacy of the subject permits us to judge, it appears

that our male ape-like progenitors acquired their beards as an ornament

to charm or excite the opposite sex, and transmitted them only to their

male offspring. The females apparently first had their bodies denuded

of hair, also as a sexual ornament; but they transmitted this character

almost equally to both sexes. It is not improbable that the females

were modified in other respects for the same purpose and by the same

means; so that women have acquired sweeter voices and become more

beautiful than men.

It deserves attention that with mankind the conditions were in many

respects much more favourable for sexual selection, during a very early

period, when man had only just attained to the rank of manhood, than

during later times. For he would then, as we may safely conclude, have

been guided more by his instinctive passions, and less by foresight or

reason. He would have jealously guarded his wife or wives. He would not

have practised infanticide; nor valued his wives merely as useful

slaves; nor have been betrothed to them during infancy. Hence we may

infer that the races of men were differentiated, as far as sexual

selection is concerned, in chief part at a very remote epoch; and this

conclusion throws light on the remarkable fact that at the most ancient

period, of which we have not as yet any record, the races of man had

already come to differ nearly or quite as much as they do at the

present day.

The views here advanced, on the part which sexual selection has played

in the history of man, want scientific precision. He who does not admit

this agency in the case of the lower animals, will disregard all that I

have written in the later chapters on man. We cannot positively say

that this character, but not that, has been thus modified; it has,

however, been shewn that the races of man differ from each other and

from their nearest allies, in certain characters which are of no

service to them in their daily habits of life, and which it is

extremely probable would have been modified through sexual selection.

We have seen that with the lowest savages the people of each tribe

admire their own characteristic qualities,—the shape of the head and

face, the squareness of the cheek-bones, the prominence or depression

of the nose, the colour of the skin, the length of the hair on the

head, the absence of hair on the face and body, or the presence of a

great beard, and so forth. Hence these and other such points could

hardly fail to be slowly and gradually exaggerated, from the more

powerful and able men in each tribe, who would succeed in rearing the

largest number of offspring, having selected during many generations

for their wives the most strongly characterised and therefore most

attractive women. For my own part I conclude that of all the causes

which have led to the differences in external appearance between the

races of man, and to a certain extent between man and the lower

animals, sexual selection has been the most efficient.

CHAPTER XXI.

GENERAL A SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.

Main conclusion that man is descended from some lower form—Manner of

development—Genealogy of man—Intellectual and moral faculties—Sexual

Selection—Concluding remarks.

A brief summary will be sufficient to recall to the reader’s mind the

more salient points in this work. Many of the views which have been

advanced are highly speculative, and some no doubt will prove

erroneous; but I have in every case given the reasons which have led me

to one view rather than to another. It seemed worth while to try how

far the principle of evolution would throw light on some of the more

complex problems in the natural history of man. False facts are highly

injurious to the progress of science, for they often endure long; but

false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, for every

one takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness: and when this

is done, one path towards error is closed and the road to truth is

often at the same time opened.

The main conclusion here arrived at, and now held by many naturalists

who are well competent to form a sound judgment, is that man is

descended from some less highly organised form. The grounds upon which

this conclusion rests will never be shaken, for the close similarity

between man and the lower animals in embryonic development, as well as

in innumerable points of structure and constitution, both of high and

of the most trifling importance,—the rudiments which he retains, and

the abnormal reversions to which he is occasionally liable,—are facts

which cannot be disputed. They have long been known, but until recently

they told us nothing with respect to the origin of man. Now when viewed

by the light of our knowledge of the whole organic world, their meaning

is unmistakable. The great principle of evolution stands up clear and

firm, when these groups or facts are considered in connection with

others, such as the mutual affinities of the members of the same group,

their geographical distribution in past and present times, and their

geological succession. It is incredible that all these facts should

speak falsely. He who is not content to look, like a savage, at the

phenomena of nature as disconnected, cannot any longer believe that man

is the work of a separate act of creation. He will be forced to admit

that the close resemblance of the embryo of man to that, for instance,

of a dog—the construction of his skull, limbs and whole frame on the

same plan with that of other mammals, independently of the uses to

which the parts may be put—the occasional re-appearance of various

structures, for instance of several muscles, which man does not

normally possess, but which are common to the Quadrumana—and a crowd of

analogous facts—all point in the plainest manner to the conclusion that

man is the co-descendant with other mammals of a common progenitor.

We have seen that man incessantly presents individual differences in

all parts of his body and in his mental faculties. These differences or

variations seem to be induced by the same general causes, and to obey

the same laws as with the lower animals. In both cases similar laws of

inheritance prevail. Man tends to increase at a greater rate than his

means of subsistence; consequently he is occasionally subjected to a

severe struggle for existence, and natural selection will have effected

whatever lies within its scope. A succession of strongly-marked

variations of a similar nature is by no means requisite; slight

fluctuating differences in the individual suffice for the work of

natural selection; not that we have any reason to suppose that in the

same species, all parts of the organisation tend to vary to the same

degree. We may feel assured that the inherited effects of the

long-continued use or disuse of parts will have done much in the same

direction with natural selection. Modifications formerly of importance,

though no longer of any special use, are long-inherited. When one part

is modified, other parts change through the principle of correlation,

of which we have instances in many curious cases of correlated

monstrosities. Something may be attributed to the direct and definite

action of the surrounding conditions of life, such as abundant food,

heat or moisture; and lastly, many characters of slight physiological

importance, some indeed of considerable importance, have been gained

through sexual selection.

No doubt man, as well as every other animal, presents structures, which

seem to our limited knowledge, not to be now of any service to him, nor

to have been so formerly, either for the general conditions of life, or

in the relations of one sex to the other. Such structures cannot be

accounted for by any form of selection, or by the inherited effects of

the use and disuse of parts. We know, however, that many strange and

strongly-marked peculiarities of structure occasionally appear in our

domesticated productions, and if their unknown causes were to act more

uniformly, they would probably become common to all the individuals of

the species. We may hope hereafter to understand something about the

causes of such occasional modifications, especially through the study

of monstrosities: hence the labours of experimentalists, such as those

of M. Camille Dareste, are full of promise for the future. In general

we can only say that the cause of each slight variation and of each

monstrosity lies much more in the constitution of the organism, than in

the nature of the surrounding conditions; though new and changed

conditions certainly play an important part in exciting organic changes

of many kinds.

Through the means just specified, aided perhaps by others as yet

undiscovered, man has been raised to his present state. But since he

attained to the rank of manhood, he has diverged into distinct races,

or as they may be more fitly called, sub-species. Some of these, such

as the Negro and European, are so distinct that, if specimens had been

brought to a naturalist without any further information, they would

undoubtedly have been considered by him as good and true species.

Nevertheless all the races agree in so many unimportant details of

structure and in so many mental peculiarities that these can be

accounted for only by inheritance from a common progenitor; and a

progenitor thus characterised would probably deserve to rank as man.

It must not be supposed that the divergence of each race from the other

races, and of all from a common stock, can be traced back to any one

pair of progenitors. On the contrary, at every stage in the process of

modification, all the individuals which were in any way better fitted

for their conditions of life, though in different degrees, would have

survived in greater numbers than the less well-fitted. The process

would have been like that followed by man, when he does not

intentionally select particular individuals, but breeds from all the

superior individuals, and neglects the inferior. He thus slowly but

surely modifies his stock, and unconsciously forms a new strain. So

with respect to modifications acquired independently of selection, and

due to variations arising from the nature of the organism and the

action of the surrounding conditions, or from changed habits of life,

no single pair will have been modified much more than the other pairs

inhabiting the same country, for all will have been continually blended

through free intercrossing.

By considering the embryological structure of man,—the homologies which

he presents with the lower animals,—the rudiments which he retains,—and

the reversions to which he is liable, we can partly recall in

imagination the former condition of our early progenitors; and can

approximately place them in their proper place in the zoological

series. We thus learn that man is descended from a hairy, tailed

quadruped, probably arboreal in its habits, and an inhabitant of the

Old World. This creature, if its whole structure had been examined by a

naturalist, would have been classed amongst the Quadrumana, as surely

as the still more ancient progenitor of the Old and New World monkeys.

The Quadrumana and all the higher mammals are probably derived from an

ancient marsupial animal, and this through a long line of diversified

forms, from some amphibian-like creature, and this again from some

fish-like animal. In the dim obscurity of the past we can see that the

early progenitor of all the Vertebrata must have been an aquatic

animal, provided with branchiae, with the two sexes united in the same

individual, and with the most important organs of the body (such as the

brain and heart) imperfectly or not at all developed. This animal seems

to have been more like the larvae of the existing marine Ascidians than

any other known form.

The high standard of our intellectual powers and moral disposition is

the greatest difficulty which presents itself, after we have been

driven to this conclusion on the origin of man. But every one who

admits the principle of evolution, must see that the mental powers of

the higher animals, which are the same in kind with those of man,

though so different in degree, are capable of advancement. Thus the

interval between the mental powers of one of the higher apes and of a

fish, or between those of an ant and scale-insect, is immense; yet

their development does not offer any special difficulty; for with our

domesticated animals, the mental faculties are certainly variable, and

the variations are inherited. No one doubts that they are of the utmost

importance to animals in a state of nature. Therefore the conditions

are favourable for their development through natural selection. The

same conclusion may be extended to man; the intellect must have been

all-important to him, even at a very remote period, as enabling him to

invent and use language, to make weapons, tools, traps, etc., whereby

with the aid of his social habits, he long ago became the most dominant

of all living creatures.

A great stride in the development of the intellect will have followed,

as soon as the half-art and half-instinct of language came into use;

for the continued use of language will have reacted on the brain and

produced an inherited effect; and this again will have reacted on the

improvement of language. As Mr. Chauncey Wright (1. ‘On the Limits of

Natural Selection,’ in the ‘North American Review,’ Oct. 1870, p. 295.)

has well remarked, the largeness of the brain in man relatively to his

body, compared with the lower animals, may be attributed in chief part

to the early use of some simple form of language,—that wonderful engine

which affixes signs to all sorts of objects and qualities, and excites

trains of thought which would never arise from the mere impression of

the senses, or if they did arise could not be followed out. The higher

intellectual powers of man, such as those of ratiocination,

abstraction, self-consciousness, etc., probably follow from the

continued improvement and exercise of the other mental faculties.

The development of the moral qualities is a more interesting problem.

The foundation lies in the social instincts, including under this term

the family ties. These instincts are highly complex, and in the case of

the lower animals give special tendencies towards certain definite

actions; but the more important elements are love, and the distinct

emotion of sympathy. Animals endowed with the social instincts take

pleasure in one another’s company, warn one another of danger, defend

and aid one another in many ways. These instincts do not extend to all

the individuals of the species, but only to those of the same

community. As they are highly beneficial to the species, they have in

all probability been acquired through natural selection.

A moral being is one who is capable of reflecting on his past actions

and their motives—of approving of some and disapproving of others; and

the fact that man is the one being who certainly deserves this

designation, is the greatest of all distinctions between him and the

lower animals. But in the fourth chapter I have endeavoured to shew

that the moral sense follows, firstly, from the enduring and

ever-present nature of the social instincts; secondly, from man’s

appreciation of the approbation and disapprobation of his fellows; and

thirdly, from the high activity of his mental faculties, with past

impressions extremely vivid; and in these latter respects he differs

from the lower animals. Owing to this condition of mind, man cannot

avoid looking both backwards and forwards, and comparing past

impressions. Hence after some temporary desire or passion has mastered

his social instincts, he reflects and compares the now weakened

impression of such past impulses with the ever-present social

instincts; and he then feels that sense of dissatisfaction which all

unsatisfied instincts leave behind them, he therefore resolves to act

differently for the future,—and this is conscience. Any instinct,

permanently stronger or more enduring than another, gives rise to a

feeling which we express by saying that it ought to be obeyed. A

pointer dog, if able to reflect on his past conduct, would say to

himself, I ought (as indeed we say of him) to have pointed at that hare

and not have yielded to the passing temptation of hunting it.

Social animals are impelled partly by a wish to aid the members of

their community in a general manner, but more commonly to perform

certain definite actions. Man is impelled by the same general wish to

aid his fellows; but has few or no special instincts. He differs also

from the lower animals in the power of expressing his desires by words,

which thus become a guide to the aid required and bestowed. The motive

to give aid is likewise much modified in man: it no longer consists

solely of a blind instinctive impulse, but is much influenced by the

praise or blame of his fellows. The appreciation and the bestowal of

praise and blame both rest on sympathy; and this emotion, as we have

seen, is one of the most important elements of the social instincts.

Sympathy, though gained as an instinct, is also much strengthened by

exercise or habit. As all men desire their own happiness, praise or

blame is bestowed on actions and motives, according as they lead to

this end; and as happiness is an essential part of the general good,

the greatest-happiness principle indirectly serves as a nearly safe

standard of right and wrong. As the reasoning powers advance and

experience is gained, the remoter effects of certain lines of conduct

on the character of the individual, and on the general good, are

perceived; and then the self-regarding virtues come within the scope of

public opinion, and receive praise, and their opposites blame. But with

the less civilised nations reason often errs, and many bad customs and

base superstitions come within the same scope, and are then esteemed as

high virtues, and their breach as heavy crimes.

The moral faculties are generally and justly esteemed as of higher

value than the intellectual powers. But we should bear in mind that the

activity of the mind in vividly recalling past impressions is one of

the fundamental though secondary bases of conscience. This affords the

strongest argument for educating and stimulating in all possible ways

the intellectual faculties of every human being. No doubt a man with a

torpid mind, if his social affections and sympathies are well

developed, will be led to good actions, and may have a fairly sensitive

conscience. But whatever renders the imagination more vivid and

strengthens the habit of recalling and comparing past impressions, will

make the conscience more sensitive, and may even somewhat compensate

for weak social affections and sympathies.

The moral nature of man has reached its present standard, partly

through the advancement of his reasoning powers and consequently of a

just public opinion, but especially from his sympathies having been

rendered more tender and widely diffused through the effects of habit,

example, instruction, and reflection. It is not improbable that after

long practice virtuous tendencies may be inherited. With the more

civilised races, the conviction of the existence of an all-seeing Deity

has had a potent influence on the advance of morality. Ultimately man

does not accept the praise or blame of his fellows as his sole guide,

though few escape this influence, but his habitual convictions,

controlled by reason, afford him the safest rule. His conscience then

becomes the supreme judge and monitor. Nevertheless the first

foundation or origin of the moral sense lies in the social instincts,

including sympathy; and these instincts no doubt were primarily gained,

as in the case of the lower animals, through natural selection.

The belief in God has often been advanced as not only the greatest, but

the most complete of all the distinctions between man and the lower

animals. It is however impossible, as we have seen, to maintain that

this belief is innate or instinctive in man. On the other hand a belief

in all-pervading spiritual agencies seems to be universal; and

apparently follows from a considerable advance in man’s reason, and

from a still greater advance in his faculties of imagination, curiosity

and wonder. I am aware that the assumed instinctive belief in God has

been used by many persons as an argument for His existence. But this is

a rash argument, as we should thus be compelled to believe in the

existence of many cruel and malignant spirits, only a little more

powerful than man; for the belief in them is far more general than in a

beneficent Deity. The idea of a universal and beneficent Creator does

not seem to arise in the mind of man, until he has been elevated by

long-continued culture.

He who believes in the advancement of man from some low organised form,

will naturally ask how does this bear on the belief in the immortality

of the soul. The barbarous races of man, as Sir J. Lubbock has shewn,

possess no clear belief of this kind; but arguments derived from the

primeval beliefs of savages are, as we have just seen, of little or no

avail. Few persons feel any anxiety from the impossibility of

determining at what precise period in the development of the

individual, from the first trace of a minute germinal vesicle, man

becomes an immortal being; and there is no greater cause for anxiety

because the period cannot possibly be determined in the gradually

ascending organic scale. (2. The Rev. J.A. Picton gives a discussion to

this effect in his ‘New Theories and the Old Faith,’ 1870.)

I am aware that the conclusions arrived at in this work will be

denounced by some as highly irreligious; but he who denounces them is

bound to shew why it is more irreligious to explain the origin of man

as a distinct species by descent from some lower form, through the laws

of variation and natural selection, than to explain the birth of the

individual through the laws of ordinary reproduction. The birth both of

the species and of the individual are equally parts of that grand

sequence of events, which our minds refuse to accept as the result of

blind chance. The understanding revolts at such a conclusion, whether

or not we are able to believe that every slight variation of

structure,—the union of each pair in marriage, the dissemination of

each seed,—and other such events, have all been ordained for some

special purpose.

Sexual selection has been treated at great length in this work; for, as

I have attempted to shew, it has played an important part in the

history of the organic world. I am aware that much remains doubtful,

but I have endeavoured to give a fair view of the whole case. In the

lower divisions of the animal kingdom, sexual selection seems to have

done nothing: such animals are often affixed for life to the same spot,

or have the sexes combined in the same individual, or what is still

more important, their perceptive and intellectual faculties are not

sufficiently advanced to allow of the feelings of love and jealousy, or

of the exertion of choice. When, however, we come to the Arthropoda and

Vertebrata, even to the lowest classes in these two great Sub-Kingdoms,

sexual selection has effected much.

In the several great classes of the animal kingdom,—in mammals, birds,

reptiles, fishes, insects, and even crustaceans,—the differences

between the sexes follow nearly the same rules. The males are almost

always the wooers; and they alone are armed with special weapons for

fighting with their rivals. They are generally stronger and larger than

the females, and are endowed with the requisite qualities of courage

and pugnacity. They are provided, either exclusively or in a much

higher degree than the females, with organs for vocal or instrumental

music, and with odoriferous glands. They are ornamented with infinitely

diversified appendages, and with the most brilliant or conspicuous

colours, often arranged in elegant patterns, whilst the females are

unadorned. When the sexes differ in more important structures, it is

the male which is provided with special sense-organs for discovering

the female, with locomotive organs for reaching her, and often with

prehensile organs for holding her. These various structures for

charming or securing the female are often developed in the male during

only part of the year, namely the breeding-season. They have in many

cases been more or less transferred to the females; and in the latter

case they often appear in her as mere rudiments. They are lost or never

gained by the males after emasculation. Generally they are not

developed in the male during early youth, but appear a short time

before the age for reproduction. Hence in most cases the young of both

sexes resemble each other; and the female somewhat resembles her young

offspring throughout life. In almost every great class a few anomalous

cases occur, where there has been an almost complete transposition of

the characters proper to the two sexes; the females assuming characters

which properly belong to the males. This surprising uniformity in the

laws regulating the differences between the sexes in so many and such

widely separated classes, is intelligible if we admit the action of one

common cause, namely sexual selection.

Sexual selection depends on the success of certain individuals over

others of the same sex, in relation to the propagation of the species;

whilst natural selection depends on the success of both sexes, at all

ages, in relation to the general conditions of life. The sexual

struggle is of two kinds; in the one it is between individuals of the

same sex, generally the males, in order to drive away or kill their

rivals, the females remaining passive; whilst in the other, the

struggle is likewise between the individuals of the same sex, in order

to excite or charm those of the opposite sex, generally the females,

which no longer remain passive, but select the more agreeable partners.

This latter kind of selection is closely analogous to that which man

unintentionally, yet effectually, brings to bear on his domesticated

productions, when he preserves during a long period the most pleasing

or useful individuals, without any wish to modify the breed.

The laws of inheritance determine whether characters gained through

sexual selection by either sex shall be transmitted to the same sex, or

to both; as well as the age at which they shall be developed. It

appears that variations arising late in life are commonly transmitted

to one and the same sex. Variability is the necessary basis for the

action of selection, and is wholly independent of it. It follows from

this, that variations of the same general nature have often been taken

advantage of and accumulated through sexual selection in relation to

the propagation of the species, as well as through natural selection in

relation to the general purposes of life. Hence secondary sexual

characters, when equally transmitted to both sexes can be distinguished

from ordinary specific characters only by the light of analogy. The

modifications acquired through sexual selection are often so strongly

pronounced that the two sexes have frequently been ranked as distinct

species, or even as distinct genera. Such strongly-marked differences

must be in some manner highly important; and we know that they have

been acquired in some instances at the cost not only of inconvenience,

but of exposure to actual danger.

The belief in the power of sexual selection rests chiefly on the

following considerations. Certain characters are confined to one sex;

and this alone renders it probable that in most cases they are

connected with the act of reproduction. In innumerable instances these

characters are fully developed only at maturity, and often during only

a part of the year, which is always the breeding-season. The males

(passing over a few exceptional cases) are the more active in

courtship; they are the better armed, and are rendered the more

attractive in various ways. It is to be especially observed that the

males display their attractions with elaborate care in the presence of

the females; and that they rarely or never display them excepting

during the season of love. It is incredible that all this should be

purposeless. Lastly we have distinct evidence with some quadrupeds and

birds, that the individuals of one sex are capable of feeling a strong

antipathy or preference for certain individuals of the other sex.

Bearing in mind these facts, and the marked results of man’s

unconscious selection, when applied to domesticated animals and

cultivated plants, it seems to me almost certain that if the

individuals of one sex were during a long series of generations to

prefer pairing with certain individuals of the other sex, characterised

in some peculiar manner, the offspring would slowly but surely become

modified in this same manner. I have not attempted to conceal that,

excepting when the males are more numerous than the females, or when

polygamy prevails, it is doubtful how the more attractive males succeed

in leaving a large number of offspring to inherit their superiority in

ornaments or other charms than the less attractive males; but I have

shewn that this would probably follow from the females,—especially the

more vigorous ones, which would be the first to breed,—preferring not

only the more attractive but at the same time the more vigorous and

victorious males.

Although we have some positive evidence that birds appreciate bright

and beautiful objects, as with the bower-birds of Australia, and

although they certainly appreciate the power of song, yet I fully admit

that it is astonishing that the females of many birds and some mammals

should be endowed with sufficient taste to appreciate ornaments, which

we have reason to attribute to sexual selection; and this is even more

astonishing in the case of reptiles, fish, and insects. But we really

know little about the minds of the lower animals. It cannot be

supposed, for instance, that male birds of paradise or peacocks should

take such pains in erecting, spreading, and vibrating their beautiful

plumes before the females for no purpose. We should remember the fact

given on excellent authority in a former chapter, that several peahens,

when debarred from an admired male, remained widows during a whole

season rather than pair with another bird.

Nevertheless I know of no fact in natural history more wonderful than

that the female Argus pheasant should appreciate the exquisite shading

of the ball-and-socket ornaments and the elegant patterns on the

wing-feather of the male. He who thinks that the male was created as he

now exists must admit that the great plumes, which prevent the wings

from being used for flight, and which are displayed during courtship

and at no other time in a manner quite peculiar to this one species,

were given to him as an ornament. If so, he must likewise admit that

the female was created and endowed with the capacity of appreciating

such ornaments. I differ only in the conviction that the male Argus

pheasant acquired his beauty gradually, through the preference of the

females during many generations for the more highly ornamented males;

the aesthetic capacity of the females having been advanced through

exercise or habit, just as our own taste is gradually improved. In the

male through the fortunate chance of a few feathers being left

unchanged, we can distinctly trace how simple spots with a little

fulvous shading on one side may have been developed by small steps into

the wonderful ball-and-socket ornaments; and it is probable that they

were actually thus developed.

Everyone who admits the principle of evolution, and yet feels great

difficulty in admitting that female mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish,

could have acquired the high taste implied by the beauty of the males,

and which generally coincides with our own standard, should reflect

that the nerve-cells of the brain in the highest as well as in the

lowest members of the Vertebrate series, are derived from those of the

common progenitor of this great Kingdom. For we can thus see how it has

come to pass that certain mental faculties, in various and widely

distinct groups of animals, have been developed in nearly the same

manner and to nearly the same degree.

The reader who has taken the trouble to go through the several chapters

devoted to sexual selection, will be able to judge how far the

conclusions at which I have arrived are supported by sufficient

evidence. If he accepts these conclusions he may, I think, safely

extend them to mankind; but it would be superfluous here to repeat what

I have so lately said on the manner in which sexual selection

apparently has acted on man, both on the male and female side, causing

the two sexes to differ in body and mind, and the several races to

differ from each other in various characters, as well as from their

ancient and lowly-organised progenitors.

He who admits the principle of sexual selection will be led to the

remarkable conclusion that the nervous system not only regulates most

of the existing functions of the body, but has indirectly influenced

the progressive development of various bodily structures and of certain

mental qualities. Courage, pugnacity, perseverance, strength and size

of body, weapons of all kinds, musical organs, both vocal and

instrumental, bright colours and ornamental appendages, have all been

indirectly gained by the one sex or the other, through the exertion of

choice, the influence of love and jealousy, and the appreciation of the

beautiful in sound, colour or form; and these powers of the mind

manifestly depend on the development of the brain.

Man scans with scrupulous care the character and pedigree of his

horses, cattle, and dogs before he matches them; but when he comes to

his own marriage he rarely, or never, takes any such care. He is

impelled by nearly the same motives as the lower animals, when they are

left to their own free choice, though he is in so far superior to them

that he highly values mental charms and virtues. On the other hand he

is strongly attracted by mere wealth or rank. Yet he might by selection

do something not only for the bodily constitution and frame of his

offspring, but for their intellectual and moral qualities. Both sexes

ought to refrain from marriage if they are in any marked degree

inferior in body or mind; but such hopes are Utopian and will never be

even partially realised until the laws of inheritance are thoroughly

known. Everyone does good service, who aids towards this end. When the

principles of breeding and inheritance are better understood, we shall

not hear ignorant members of our legislature rejecting with scorn a

plan for ascertaining whether or not consanguineous marriages are

injurious to man.

The advancement of the welfare of mankind is a most intricate problem:

all ought to refrain from marriage who cannot avoid abject poverty for

their children; for poverty is not only a great evil, but tends to its

own increase by leading to recklessness in marriage. On the other hand,

as Mr. Galton has remarked, if the prudent avoid marriage, whilst the

reckless marry, the inferior members tend to supplant the better

members of society. Man, like every other animal, has no doubt advanced

to his present high condition through a struggle for existence

consequent on his rapid multiplication; and if he is to advance still

higher, it is to be feared that he must remain subject to a severe

struggle. Otherwise he would sink into indolence, and the more gifted

men would not be more successful in the battle of life than the less

gifted. Hence our natural rate of increase, though leading to many and

obvious evils, must not be greatly diminished by any means. There

should be open competition for all men; and the most able should not be

prevented by laws or customs from succeeding best and rearing the

largest number of offspring. Important as the struggle for existence

has been and even still is, yet as far as the highest part of man’s

nature is concerned there are other agencies more important. For the

moral qualities are advanced, either directly or indirectly, much more

through the effects of habit, the reasoning powers, instruction,

religion, etc., than through natural selection; though to this latter

agency may be safely attributed the social instincts, which afforded

the basis for the development of the moral sense.

The main conclusion arrived at in this work, namely, that man is

descended from some lowly organised form, will, I regret to think, be

highly distasteful to many. But there can hardly be a doubt that we are

descended from barbarians. The astonishment which I felt on first

seeing a party of Fuegians on a wild and broken shore will never be

forgotten by me, for the reflection at once rushed into my mind—such

were our ancestors. These men were absolutely naked and bedaubed with

paint, their long hair was tangled, their mouths frothed with

excitement, and their expression was wild, startled, and distrustful.

They possessed hardly any arts, and like wild animals lived on what

they could catch; they had no government, and were merciless to every

one not of their own small tribe. He who has seen a savage in his

native land will not feel much shame, if forced to acknowledge that the

blood of some more humble creature flows in his veins. For my own part

I would as soon be descended from that heroic little monkey, who braved

his dreaded enemy in order to save the life of his keeper, or from that

old baboon, who descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph

his young comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs—as from a savage who

delights to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, practices

infanticide without remorse, treats his wives like slaves, knows no

decency, and is haunted by the grossest superstitions.

Man may be excused for feeling some pride at having risen, though not

through his own exertions, to the very summit of the organic scale; and

the fact of his having thus risen, instead of having been aboriginally

placed there, may give him hope for a still higher destiny in the

distant future. But we are not here concerned with hopes or fears, only

with the truth as far as our reason permits us to discover it; and I

have given the evidence to the best of my ability. We must, however,

acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities,

with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which

extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with

his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and

constitution of the solar system—with all these exalted powers—Man

still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly

origin.

SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE.

ON SEXUAL SELECTION IN RELATION TO MONKEYS.

Reprinted from NATURE, November 2, 1876, p. 18.

In the discussion on Sexual Selection in my ‘Descent of Man,’ no case

interested and perplexed me so much as the brightly-coloured hinder

ends and adjoining parts of certain monkeys. As these parts are more

brightly coloured in one sex than the other, and as they become more

brilliant during the season of love, I concluded that the colours had

been gained as a sexual attraction. I was well aware that I thus laid

myself open to ridicule; though in fact it is not more surprising that

a monkey should display his bright-red hinder end than that a peacock

should display his magnificent tail. I had, however, at that time no

evidence of monkeys exhibiting this part of their bodies during their

courtship; and such display in the case of birds affords the best

evidence that the ornaments of the males are of service to them by

attracting or exciting the females. I have lately read an article by

Joh. von Fischer, of Gotha, published in ‘Der Zoologische Garten,’

April 1876, on the expression of monkeys under various emotions, which

is well worthy of study by any one interested in the subject, and which

shews that the author is a careful and acute observer. In this article

there is an account of the behaviour of a young male mandrill when he

first beheld himself in a looking-glass, and it is added, that after a

time he turned round and presented his red hinder end to the glass.

Accordingly I wrote to Herr J. von Fischer to ask what he supposed was

the meaning of this strange action, and he has sent me two long letters

full of new and curious details, which will, I hope, be hereafter

published. He says that he was himself at first perplexed by the above

action, and was thus led carefully to observe several individuals of

various other species of monkeys, which he has long kept in his house.

He finds that not only the mandrill (Cynocephalus mormon) but the drill

(C. leucophaeus) and three other kinds of baboons (C. hamadryas,

sphinx, and babouin), also Cynopithecus niger, and Macacus rhesus and

nemestrinus, turn this part of their bodies, which in all these species

is more or less brightly coloured, to him when they are pleased, and to

other persons as a sort of greeting. He took pains to cure a Macacus

rhesus, which he had kept for five years, of this indecorous habit, and

at last succeeded. These monkeys are particularly apt to act in this

manner, grinning at the same time, when first introduced to a new

monkey, but often also to their old monkey friends; and after this

mutual display they begin to play together. The young mandrill ceased

spontaneously after a time to act in this manner towards his master,

von Fischer, but continued to do so towards persons who were strangers

and to new monkeys. A young Cynopithecus niger never acted, excepting

on one occasion, in this way towards his master, but frequently towards

strangers, and continues to do so up to the present time. From these

facts Von Fischer concludes that the monkeys which behaved in this

manner before a looking-glass (viz., the mandrill, drill, Cynopithecus

niger, Macacus rhesus and nemestrinus) acted as if their reflection

were a new acquaintance. The mandrill and drill, which have their

hinder ends especially ornamented, display it even whilst quite young,

more frequently and more ostentatiously than do the other kinds. Next

in order comes Cynocephalus hamadryas, whilst the other species act in

this manner seldomer. The individuals, however, of the same species

vary in this respect, and some which were very shy never displayed

their hinder ends. It deserves especial attention that Von Fischer has

never seen any species purposely exhibit the hinder part of its body,

if not at all coloured. This remark applies to many individuals of

Macacus cynomolgus and Cercocebus radiatus (which is closely allied to

M. rhesus), to three species of Cercopithecus and several American

monkeys. The habit of turning the hinder ends as a greeting to an old

friend or new acquaintance, which seems to us so odd, is not really

more so than the habits of many savages, for instance that of rubbing

their bellies with their hands, or rubbing noses together. The habit

with the mandrill and drill seems to be instinctive or inherited, as it

was followed by very young animals; but it is modified or guided, like

so many other instincts, by observation, for Von Fischer says that they

take pains to make their display fully; and if made before two

observers, they turn to him who seems to pay the most attention.

With respect to the origin of the habit, Von Fischer remarks that his

monkeys like to have their naked hinder ends patted or stroked, and

that they then grunt with pleasure. They often also turn this part of

their bodies to other monkeys to have bits of dirt picked off, and so

no doubt it would be with respect to thorns. But the habit with adult

animals is connected to a certain extent with sexual feelings, for Von

Fischer watched through a glass door a female Cynopithecus niger, and

she during several days, “umdrehte und dem Männchen mit gurgelnden

Tönen die stark geröthete Sitzflache zeigte, was ich früher nie an

diesem Thier bemerkt hatte. Beim Anblick dieses Gegenstandes erregte

sich das Männchen sichtlich, denn es polterte heftig an den Stäben,

ebenfalls gurgelnde Laute ausstossend.” As all the monkeys which have

the hinder parts of their bodies more or less brightly coloured live,

according to Von Fischer, in open rocky places, he thinks that these

colours serve to render one sex conspicuous at a distance to the other;

but, as monkeys are such gregarious animals, I should have thought that

there was no need for the sexes to recognise each other at a distance.

It seems to me more probable that the bright colours, whether on the

face or hinder end, or, as in the mandrill, on both, serve as a sexual

ornament and attraction. Anyhow, as we now know that monkeys have the

habit of turning their hinder ends towards other monkeys, it ceases to

be at all surprising that it should have been this part of their bodies

which has been more or less decorated. The fact that it is only the

monkeys thus characterised which, as far as at present known, act in

this manner as a greeting towards other monkeys renders it doubtful

whether the habit was first acquired from some independent cause, and

that afterwards the parts in question were coloured as a sexual

ornament; or whether the colouring and the habit of turning round were

first acquired through variation and sexual selection, and that

afterwards the habit was retained as a sign of pleasure or as a

greeting, through the principle of inherited association. This

principle apparently comes into play on many occasions: thus it is

generally admitted that the songs of birds serve mainly as an

attraction during the season of love, and that the leks, or great

congregations of the black-grouse, are connected with their courtship;

but the habit of singing has been retained by some birds when they feel

happy, for instance by the common robin, and the habit of congregating

has been retained by the black-grouse during other seasons of the year.

I beg leave to refer to one other point in relation to sexual

selection. It has been objected that this form of selection, as far as

the ornaments of the males are concerned, implies that all females

within the same district must possess and exercise exactly the same

taste. It should, however, be observed, in the first place, that

although the range of variation of a species may be very large, it is

by no means indefinite. I have elsewhere given a good instance of this

fact in the pigeon, of which there are at least a hundred varieties

differing widely in their colours, and at least a score of varieties of

the fowl differing in the same kind of way; but the range of colour in

these two species is extremely distinct. Therefore the females of

natural species cannot have an unlimited scope for their taste. In the

second place, I presume that no supporter of the principle of sexual

selection believes that the females select particular points of beauty

in the males; they are merely excited or attracted in a greater degree

by one male than by another, and this seems often to depend, especially

with birds, on brilliant colouring. Even man, excepting perhaps an

artist, does not analyse the slight differences in the features of the

woman whom he may admire, on which her beauty depends. The male

mandrill has not only the hinder end of his body, but his face

gorgeously coloured and marked with oblique ridges, a yellow beard, and

other ornaments. We may infer from what we see of the variation of

animals under domestication, that the above several ornaments of the

mandrill were gradually acquired by one individual varying a little in

one way, and another individual in another way. The males which were

the handsomest or the most attractive in any manner to the females

would pair oftenest, and would leave rather more offspring than other

males. The offspring of the former, although variously intercrossed,

would either inherit the peculiarities of their fathers or transmit an

increased tendency to vary in the same manner. Consequently the whole

body of males inhabiting the same country would tend from the effects

of constant intercrossing to become modified almost uniformly, but

sometimes a little more in one character and sometimes in another,

though at an extremely slow rate; all ultimately being thus rendered

more attractive to the females. The process is like that which I have

called unconscious selection by man, and of which I have given several

instances. In one country the inhabitants value a fleet or light dog or

horse, and in another country a heavier and more powerful one; in

neither country is there any selection of individual animals with

lighter or stronger bodies and limbs; nevertheless after a considerable

lapse of time the individuals are found to have been modified in the

desired manner almost uniformly, though differently in each country. In

two absolutely distinct countries inhabited by the same species, the

individuals of which can never during long ages have intermigrated and

intercrossed, and where, moreover, the variations will probably not

have been identically the same, sexual selection might cause the males

to differ. Nor does the belief appear to me altogether fanciful that

two sets of females, surrounded by a very different environment, would

be apt to acquire somewhat different tastes with respect to form,

sound, or colour. However this may be, I have given in my ‘Descent of

Man’ instances of closely-allied birds inhabiting distinct countries,

of which the young and the females cannot be distinguished, whilst the

adult males differ considerably, and this may be attributed with much

probability to the action of sexual selection.

INDEX. — Abbot, C., on the battles of seals.

Abductor of the fifth metatarsal, presence of, in man.

Abercrombie, Dr., on disease of the brain affecting speech.

Abipones, marriage customs of the.

Abortion, prevalence of the practice of.

Abou-Simbel, caves of.

Abramis brama.

Abstraction, power of, in animals.

Acalles, stridulation of.

Acanthodactylus capensis, sexual differences of colour in.

Accentor Modularis.

Acclimatisation, difference of, in different races of men.

Achetidae, stridulation of the; rudimentary stridulating organs in

female.

Acilius sulcatus, elytra of the female.

Acomus, development of spurs in the female of.

Acridiidae, stridulation of the; rudimentary stridulating organs in

female.

Acromio-basilar muscle, and quadrupedal gait.

Acting.

Actiniae, bright colours of.

Adams, Mr., migration of birds; intelligence of nut-hatch; on the

Bombycilla carolinensis.

Admiral butterfly.

Adoption of the young of other animals by female monkeys.

Advancement in the organic scale, Von Baer’s definition of.

Aeby, on the difference between the skulls of man and the quadrumana.

Aesthetic faculty, not highly developed in savages.

Affection, maternal; manifestation of, by animals; parental and filial,

partly the result of natural selection; mutual, of birds; shewn by

birds in confinement, for certain persons.

Africa, probably the birthplace of man; South, crossed population of;

South, retention of colour by the Dutch in; South, proportion of the

sexes in the butterflies of; tattooing practised in; Northern, coiffure

of natives of.

Agassiz, L., on conscience in dogs; on the coincidence of the races of

man with zoological provinces; on the number of species of man; on the

courtship of the land-snails; on the brightness of the colours of male

fishes during the breeding season; on the frontal protuberance of the

males of Geophagus and Cichla; male fishes hatching ova in their

mouths; sexual differences in colour of chromids; on the slight sexual

differences of the South Americans; on the tattooing of the Amazonian

Indians.

Age, in relation to the transmission of characters in birds; variation

in accordance with, in birds.

Agelaeus phoeniceus.

Ageronia feronia, noise produced by.

Agrion, dimorphism in.

Agrion Ramburii, sexes of.

Agrionidae, difference in the sexes of.

Agrotis exclamationis.

Ague, tertian, dog suffering from.

Ainos, hairiness of the.

Aitchison, Mr., on sheep.

Aithurus polytmus, young of.

Albino birds.

Alca torda, young of.

Alces palmata.

Alder and Hancock, MM., on the nudi-branch mollusca.

Allen, J.A., vigour of birds earliest hatched; effect of difference of

temperature, light, etc., on birds; colours of birds; on the relative

size of the sexes of Callorhinus ursinus; on the name of Otaria jubata;

on the pairing of seals; on sexual differences in the colour of bats.

Allen, S., on the habits of Hoplopterus; on the plumes of herons; on

the vernal moult of Herodius bubulcus.

Alligator, courtship of the male; roaring of the male.

Amadavat, pugnacity of male.

Amadina Lathami, display of plumage by the male.

Amadina castanotis, display of plumage by the male.

Amazons, butterflies of the; fishes of the.

America, variation in the skulls of aborigines of; wide range of

aborigines of; lice of the natives of; general beardlessness of the

natives of.

America, North, butterflies of; Indians of, women a cause of strife

among the; Indians of, their notions of female beauty.

America, South, character of the natives of; population of parts of;

piles of stones in; extinction of the fossil horse of; desert-birds of;

slight sexual difference of the aborigines of; prevalence of

infanticide in.

American languages, often highly artificial.

Americans, wide geographical range of; native, variability of; and

negroes, difference of; aversion of, to hair on the face.

Ammophila, on the jaws of.

Ammotragus tragelaphus, hairy forelegs of.

Amphibia, affinity of, to the ganoid fishes; vocal organs of the.

Amphibians, breeding whilst immature.

Amphioxus.

Amphipoda, males sexually mature while young.

Amunoph III., negro character of, features of.

Anal appendages of insects.

Analogous variation in the plumage of birds.

Anas.

Anas acuta, male plumage of.

Anas boschas, male plumage of.

Anas histrionica.

Anas punctata.

Anastomus oscitans, sexes and young of; white nuptial plumage of.

Anatidae, voices of.

Anax junius, differences in the sexes of.

Andaman islanders, susceptible to change of climate.

Anderson, Dr., on the tail of Macacus brunneus; the Bufo sikimmensis;

sounds of Echis carinata.

Andreana fulva.

Anglo-Saxons, estimation of the beard among the.

Animals, domesticated, more fertile than wild; cruelty of savages to;

characters common to man and; domestic, change of breeds of.

Annelida, colours of.

Anobium tessellatum, sounds produced by.

Anolis cristatellus, male, crest of; pugnacity of the male;

throat-pouch of.

Anser canadensis.

Anset cygnoides; knob at the base of the beak of.

Anser hyperboreus, whiteness of.

Antelope, prong-horned, horns of.

Antelopes, generally polygamous; horns of; canine teeth of some male;

use of horns of; dorsal crests in; dewlaps of; winter change of two

species of; peculiar markings of.

Antennae, furnished with cushions in the male of Penthe.

Anthidium manicatum, large male of.

Anthocharis cardamines; sexual difference of colour in.

Anthocharis genutia.

Anthocharis sara.

Anthophora acervorum, large male of.

Anthophora retusa, difference of the sexes in.

Anthropidae.

Anthus, moulting of.

Antics of birds.

Antigua, Dr. Nicholson’s observations on yellow fever in.

Antilocapra americana, horns of.

Antilope bezoartica, horned females of; sexual difference in the colour

of.

Antilope Dorcas and euchore.

Antilope euchore, horns of.

Antilope montana, rudimentary canines in the young male of.

Antilope niger, sing-sing, caama, and gorgon, sexual differences in the

colours of.

Antilope oreas, horns of.

Antilope saiga, polygamous habits of.

Antilope strepsiceros, horns of.

Antilope subgutturosa, absence of suborbital pits in.

Antipathy, shewn by birds in confinement, to certain persons.

Ants, large size of the cerebral ganglia in; soldier, large jaws of;

playing together; memory in; intercommunication of, by means of the

antennae; habits of; difference of the sexes in; recognition of each

other by, after separation.

Ants White, habits of.

Anura.

Apatania muliebris, male unknown.

Apathus, difference of the sexes in.

Apatura Iris.

Apes, difference of the young, from the adult; semi-erect attitude of

some; mastoid processes of; influences of the jaw-muscles on the

physiognomy of; female, destitute of large canines; building platforms;

imitative faculties of; anthropomorphous; probable speedy extermination

of the; Gratiolet on the evolution of; canine teeth of male; females of

some, less hairy beneath than the males.

Apes, long-armed, their mode of progression.

Aphasia, Dr. Bateman on.

Apis mellifica, large male of.

Apollo, Greek statues of.

Apoplexy in Cebus Azarae.

Appendages, anal, of insects.

Approbation, influence of the love of.

Aprosmictus scapulatus.

Apus, proportion of sexes.

Aquatic birds, frequency of white plumage in.

Aquila chrysaetos.

Arab women, elaborate and peculiar coiffure of.

Arabs, fertility of crosses with other races; gashing of cheeks and

temples among the.

Arachnida.

Arakhan, artificial widening of the forehead by the natives of.

Arboricola, young of.

Archeopteryx.

Arctiidae, coloration of the.

Ardea asha, rufescens, and coerulea, change of colour in.

Ardea coerulea, breeding in immature plumage.

Ardea gularis, change of plumage in.

Ardea herodias, love-gestures of the male.

Ardea ludoviciana, age of mature plumage in; continued growth of crest

and plumes in the male of.

Ardea nycticorax, cries of.

Ardeola, young of.

Ardetta, changes of plumage in.

Argenteuil.

Argus pheasant, display of plumage by the male; ocellated spots of the;

gradation of characters in the.

Argyll, Duke of, on the physical weakness of man; the fashioning of

implements peculiar to man; on the contest in man between right and

wrong; on the primitive civilisation of man; on the plumage of the male

Argus pheasant; on Urosticte Benjamini; on the nests of birds.

Argynnis, colouring of the lower surface of.

Aricoris epitus, sexual differences in the wings of.

Aristocracy, increased beauty of the.

Arms, proportions of, in soldiers and sailors; direction of the hair on

the.

Arms and hands, free use of, indirectly correlated with diminution of

canines.

Arrest of development.

Arrow-heads, stone, general resemblance of.

Arrows, use of.

Arteries, variations in the course of the.

Artery, effect of tying, upon the lateral channels.

Arthropoda.

Arts practised by savages.

Ascension, coloured incrustation on the rocks of.

Ascidia, affinity of the lancelet to; tad-pole like larvae of.

Ascidians, bright colours of some.

Asinus, Asiatic and African species of.

Asinus taeniopus.

Ass, colour-variations of the.

Ateles, effects of brandy on an; absence of the thumb in.

Ateles beelzebuth, ears of.

Ateles marginatus, colour of the ruff of; hair on the head of.

Ateuchus cicatricosus, habits of.

Ateuchus, stridulation of.

Athalia, proportions of the sexes in.

Atropus pulsatorius.

Attention, manifestations of, in animals.

Audouin, V., on a hymenopterous parasite with a sedentary male.

Audubon, J.J., on the pinioned goose; on the speculum of Mergus

cucullatus; on the pugnacity of male birds; on courtship of

Caprimulgus; on Tetrao cupido; on Ardea nycticorax; on Sturnella

ludoviciana; on the vocal organs of Tetra cupido; on the drumming of

the male Tetrao umbellus; on sounds produced by the nightjar; on Ardea

herodias and Cathartes jota; on Mimus polyglottus; on display in male

birds; on the spring change of colour in some finches; on migration of

mocking thrushes; recognition of a dog by a turkey; selection of mate

by female birds; on the turkey; on variation in the male scarlet

tanager; on the musk-rat; on the habits of Pyranga aestiva; on local

differences in the nests of the same species of birds; on the habits of

woodpeckers; on Bombycilla carolinensis; on young females of Pyranga

aestiva acquiring male characters; on the immature plumage of thrushes;

on the immature plumage of birds; on birds breeding in immature

plumage; on the growth of the crest and plume in the male Ardea

ludoviciana; on the change of colour in some species of Ardea.

Audobon and Bachman, MM., on squirrels fighting; on the Canadian lynx.

Aughey, Prof., on rattlesnakes.

Austen, N.L., on Anolis cristatellus.

Australia, not the birthplace of man; half-castes killed by the natives

of; lice of the natives of.

Australia, South, variation in the skulls of aborigines of.

Australians, colour of new-born children of; relative height of the

sexes of; women a cause of war among the.

Axis deer, sexual difference in the colour of the.

Aymaras, measurements of the; no grey hair among the; hairlessness of

the face in the; long hair of the.

Azara, on the proportion of men and women among the Guaranys; on

Palamedea cornuta; on the beards of the Guaranys; on strife for women

among the Guanas; on infanticide; on the eradication of the eyebrows

and eyelashes by the Indians of Paraguay; on polyandry among the

Guanas; celibacy unknown among the savages of South America; on the

freedom of divorce among the Charruas.

Babbage C., on the greater proportion of illegitimate female births.

Babirusa, tusks of the.

Baboon, revenge in a; rage excited in, by reading; manifestation of

memory by a; employing a mat for shelter against the sun; protected

from punishment by its companions.

Baboon, Cape, mane of the male; Hamadryas, mane of the male.

Baboon, effects of intoxicating liquors on; ears of; diversity of the

mental faculties in; hands of; habits of; variability of the tail in;

manifestation of maternal affection by; using stones and sticks as

weapons; co-operation of; silence of, on plundering expeditions;

apparent polygamy of; polygamous and social habits of.

Baboons, courtship of.

Bachman, Dr., on the fertility of mulattoes.

Baer, K.E. von, on embryonic development; definition of advancement in

the organic scale.

Bagehot, W., on the social virtues among primitive men; slavery

formerly beneficial; on the value of obedience; on human progress; on

the persistence of savage tribes in classical times.

Bailly, E.M., on the mode of fighting of the Italian buffalo; on the

fighting of stags.

Bain, A., on the sense of duty; aid springing from sympathy; on the

basis of sympathy; on the love of approbation etc.; on the idea of

beauty.

Baird, W., on a difference in colour between the males and females of

some Entozoa.

Baker, Mr., observation on the proportion of the sexes in

pheasant-chicks.

Baker, Sir S., on the fondness of the Arabs for discordant music; on

sexual difference in the colours of an antelope; on the elephant and

rhinoceros attacking white or grey horses; on the disfigurements

practised by the negroes; on the gashing of the cheeks and temples

practised in Arab countries; on the coiffure of the North Africans; on

the perforation of the lower lip by the women of Latooka; on the

distinctive characters of the coiffure of central African tribes; on

the coiffure of Arab women.

“Balz” of the Black-cock.

Bantam, Sebright.

Banteng, horns of; sexual differences in the colours of the.

Banyai, colour of the.

Barbarism, primitive, of civilised nations.

Barbs, filamentous, of the feathers, in certain birds.

Barr, Mr., on sexual preference in dogs.

Barrago, F., on the Simian resemblances of man.

Barrington, Daines, on the language of birds; on the clucking of the

hen; on the object of the song of birds; on the singing of female

birds; on birds acquiring the songs of other birds; on the muscles of

the larynx in song-birds; on the want of the power of song by female

birds.

Barrow, on the widow-bird.

Bartels, Dr., supernumerary mammae in men.

Bartlett, A.D., period of hatching of bird’s eggs; on the tragopan; on

the development of the spurs in Crossoptilon auritum; on the fighting

of the males of Plectopterus gambensis; on the Knot; on display in male

birds; on the display of plumage by the male Polyplectron; on

Crossoptilon auritum and Phasianus Wallichii; on the habits of

Lophophorus; on the colour of the mouth in Buceros bicornis; on the

incubation of the cassowary; on the Cape Buffalo; on the use of the

horns of antelopes; on the fighting of male wart-hogs; on Ammotragus

tragelaphus; on the colours of Cercopithecus cephus; on the colours of

the faces of monkeys; on the naked surfaces of monkeys.

Bartlett, on courting of Argus pheasant.

Bartram, on the courtship of the male alligator.

Basque language, highly artificial.

Bate, C.S., on the superior activity of male crustacea; on the

proportions of the sexes in crabs; on the chelae of crustacea; on the

relative size of the sexes in crustacea; on the colours of crustacea.

Bateman, Dr., tendency to imitation in certain diseased states; on

Aphasia.

Bates, H.W., on variation in the form of the head of Amazonian Indians;

on the proportion of the sexes among Amazonian butterflies; on sexual

differences in the wings of butterflies; on the field-cricket; on

Pyrodes pulcherrimus; on the horns of Lamellicorn beetles; on the

colours of Epicaliae, etc.; on the coloration of tropical butterflies;

on the variability of Papilio Sesostris and Childrenae; on male and

female butterflies inhabiting different stations; on mimicry; on the

caterpillar of a Sphinx; on the vocal organs of the umbrella-bird; on

the toucans; on Brackyurus calvus.

Batokas, knocking out two upper incisors.

Batrachia, eagerness of male.

Bats, scent-glands; sexual differences in the colour of; fur of male

frugivorous.

Battle, law of; among beetles; among birds; among mammals; in man.

Beak, sexual difference in the forms of the; in the colour of the.

Beaks, of birds, bright colours of.

Beard, development of, in man; analogy of the, in man and the

quadrumana; variation of the development of the, in different races of

men; estimation of, among bearded nations; probable origin of the.

Beard, in monkeys; of mammals.

Beautiful, taste for the, in birds; in the quadrumana.

Beauty, sense of, in animals; appreciation of, by birds; influence of;

variability of the standard of.

Beauty, sense of, sufficiently permanent for action of sexual

selection.

Beaven, Lieut., on the development of the horns in Cervus Eldi.

Beaver, instinct and intelligence of the; voice of the; castoreum of

the.

Beavers, battles of male.

Bechstein, on female birds choosing the best singers among the males;

on rivalry in song-birds; on the singing of female birds; on birds

acquiring the songs of other birds; on pairing the canary and siskin;

on a sub-variety of the monk pigeon; on spurred hens.

Beddoe, Dr., on causes of difference in stature.

Bee-eater.

Bees, pollen-baskets and stings of; destruction of drones and queens

by; female, secondary sexual characters of; proportion of sexes;

difference of the sexes in colour and sexual selection.

Beetle, luminous larva of a.

Beetles, size of the cerebral ganglia in; dilatation of the foretarsi

in male; blind; stridulation of.

Belgium, ancient inhabitants of.

Bell, Sir C., on emotional muscles in man; “snarling muscles;” on the

hand.

Bell, T., on the numerical proportion of the sexes in moles; on the

newts; on the croaking of the frog; on the difference in the coloration

of the sexes in Zootoca vivipara; on moles fighting.

Bell-bird, sexual difference in the colour of the.

Bell-birds, colours of.

Belt, Mr., on the nakedness of tropical mankind; on a spider-monkey and

eagle; habits of ants; Lampridae distasteful to mammals; mimicry of

Leptalides; colours of Nicaraguan frogs; display of humming-birds; on

the toucans; protective colouring of skunk.

Benevolence, manifested by birds.

Bennett, A.W., attachment of mated birds; on the habits of Dromaeus

irroratus.

Bennett, Dr., on birds of paradise.

Berbers, fertility of crosses with other races.

Bernicla antarctica, colours of.

Bernicle gander pairing with a Canada goose.

Bert, M., crustaceans distinguish colours.

Bettoni, E., on local differences in the nests of Italian birds.

Beyle, M., see Bombet.

Bhoteas, colour of the beard in.

Bhringa, disc-formed tail-feathers of.

Bianconi, Prof., on structures as explained through mechanical

principles.

Bibio, sexual differences in the genus.

Bichat, on beauty.

Bickes, proportion of sexes in man.

Bile, coloured, in many animals.

Bimana.

Birds, imitations of the songs of other birds by; dreaming; killed by

telegraph wires; language of; sense of beauty in; pleasure of, in

incubation; male, incubation by; and reptiles, alliance of; sexual

differences in the beak of some; migratory, arrival of the male before

the female; apparent relation between polygamy and marked sexual

differences in; monogamous, becoming polygamous under domestication;

eagerness of male in pursuit of the female; wild, numerical proportion

of the sexes in; secondary sexual characters of; difference of size in

the sexes of; fights of male, witnessed by females; display of male, to

captivate the females; close attention of, to the songs of others;

acquiring the song of their foster-parents; brilliant, rarely good

songsters; love-antics and dances of; coloration of; moulting of;

unpaired; male, singing out of season; mutual affection of; in

confinement, distinguish persons; hybrid, production of; Albino;

European, number of species of; variability of; geographical

distribution of colouring; gradation of secondary sexual characters in;

obscurely coloured, building concealed nests; young female, acquiring

male characters; breeding in immature plumage; moulting of; aquatic,

frequency of white plumage in; vocal courtship of; naked skin of the

head and neck in.

Birgus latro, habits of.

Birkbeck, Mr., on the finding of new mates by golden eagles.

Birthplace of man.

Births, numerical proportions of the sexes in, in animals and man; male

and female, numerical proportion of, in England.

Bischoff, Prof., on the agreement between the brains of man and of the

orang; figure of the embryo of the dog; on the convolutions of the

brain in the human foetus; on the difference between the skulls of man

and the quadrumana; resemblance between the ape’s and man’s.

Bishop, J., on the vocal organs of frogs; on the vocal organs of

cervine birds; on the trachea of the Merganser.

Bison, American, co-operation of; mane of the male.

Bitterns, dwarf, coloration of the sexes of.

Biziura lobata, musky odour of the male; large size of male.

Blackbird, sexual differences in the; proportion of the sexes in the;

acquisition of a song by; colour of the beak in the sexes of the;

pairing with a thrush; colours and nidification of the; young of the;

sexual difference in coloration of the.

Black-buck, Indian, sexual difference in the colour of the.

Blackcap, arrival of the male, before the female; young of the.

Black-cock, polygamous; proportion of the sexes in the; pugnacity and

love-dance of the; call of the; moulting of the; duration of the

courtship of the; and pheasant, hybrids of; sexual difference in

coloration of the; crimson eye-cere of the.

Black-grouse, characters of young.

Blacklock, Dr., on music.

Blackwall, J., on the speaking of the magpie; on the desertion of their

young by swallows; on the superior activity of male spiders; on the

proportion of the sexes in spiders; on sexual variation of colour in

spiders; on male spiders.

Bladder-nose Seal, hood of the.

Blaine, on the affections of dogs.

Blair, Dr., on the relative liability of Europeans to yellow fever.

Blake, C.C., on the jaw from La Naulette.

Blakiston, Captain, on the American snipe; on the dances of Tetrao

phasianellus.

Blasius, Dr., on the species of European birds.

Bledius taurus, hornlike processes of male.

Bleeding, tendency to profuse.

Blenkiron, Mr., on sexual preference in horses.

Blennies, crest developed on the head of male, during the breeding

season.

Blethisa multipunctata, stridulation of.

Bloch, on the proportions of the sexes in fishes.

Blood, arterial, red colour of.

Blood pheasant, number of spurs in.

Blow-fly, sounds made by.

Bluebreast, red-throated, sexual differences of the.

Blumenbach, on Man; on the large size of the nasal cavities in American

aborigines; on the position of man; on the number of species of man.

Blyth, E., on the structure of the hand in the species of Hylobates;

observations on Indian crows; on the development of the horns in the

Koodoo and Eland antelopes; on the pugnacity of the males of Gallicrex

cristatus; on the presence of spurs in the female Euplocamus

erythrophthalmus; on the pugnacity of the amadavat; on the spoonbill;

on the moulting of Anthus; on the moulting of bustards, plovers, and

Gallus bankiva; on the Indian honey-buzzard; on sexual differences in

the colour of the eyes of hornbills; on Oriolus melanocephalus; on

Palaeornis javanicus; on the genus Ardetta; on the peregrine falcon; on

young female birds acquiring male characters; on the immature plumage

of birds; on representative species of birds; on the young of Turnix;

on anomalous young of Lanius rufus and Colymbus glacialis; on the sexes

and young of the sparrows; on dimorphism in some herons; on the

ascertainment of the sex of nestling bullfinches by pulling out

breast-feathers; on orioles breeding in immature plumage; on the sexes

and young of Buphus and Anastomus; on the young of the blackcap and

blackbird; on the young of the stonechat; on the white plumage of

Anastomus; on the horns of Bovine animals; on the horns of Antilope

bezoartica; on the mode of fighting of Ovis cycloceros; on the voice of

the Gibbons; on the crest of the male wild goat; on the colours of

Portax picta; on the colours of Antilope bezoartica; on the colour of

the Axis deer; on sexual difference of colour in Hylobates hoolock; on

the hog-deer; on the beard and whiskers in a monkey, becoming white

with age.

Boar, wild, polygamous in India; use of the tusks by the; fighting of.

Boardman, Mr., Albino birds in U.S.

Boitard and Corbie, MM., on the transmission of sexual peculiarities in

pigeons; on the antipathy shewn by some female pigeons to certain

males.

Bold, Mr., on the singing of a sterile hybrid canary.

Bombet, on the variability of the standard of beauty in Europe.

Bombus, difference of the sexes in.

Bombycidae, coloration of; pairing of the; colours of.

Bombycilla carolinensis, red appendages of.

Bombyx cynthia, proportion of the sexes in; pairing of.

Bombyx mori, difference of size of the male and female cocoons of;

pairing of.

Bombyx Pernyi, proportion of sexes of.

Bombyx Yamamai, M. Personnat on; proportion of sexes of.

Bonaparte, C.L., on the call-notes of the wild turkey.

Bond, F., on the finding of new mates by crows.

Bone, implements of, skill displayed in making.

Boner, C., on the transfer of male characters to an old female chamois;

on the habits of stags; on the pairing of red deer.

Bones, increase of, in length and thickness, when carrying a greater

weight.

Bonizzi, P., difference of colour in sexes of pigeons.

Bonnet monkey.

Bonwick, J., extinction of Tasmanians.

Boomerang.

Boreus hyemalis, scarcity of the male.

Bory St. Vincent, on the number of species of man; on the colours of

Labrus pavo.

Bos etruscus.

Bos gaurus, horns of.

Bos moschatus.

Bos primigenius.

Bos sondaicus, horns of, colours of.

Botocudos, mode of life of; disfigurement of the ears and lower lip of

the.

Boucher de Perthes, J.C. de, on the antiquity of man.

Bourbon, proportion of the sexes in a species of Papilio from.

Bourien on the marriage-customs of the savages of the Malay

Archipelago.

Bovidae, dewlaps of.

Bower-birds, habits of the; ornamented playing-places of.

Bows, use of.

Brachycephalic structure, possible explanation of.

Brachyura.

Brachyurus calvus, scarlet face of.

Bradley, Mr., abductor ossis metatarsi quinti in man.

Brain, of man, agreement of the, with that of lower animals;

convolutions of, in the human foetus; influence of development of

mental faculties upon the size of the; influence of the development of

on the spinal column and skull; larger in some existing mammals than in

their tertiary prototypes; relation of the development of the, to the

progress of language; disease of the, affecting speech; difference in

the convolutions of, in different races of men; supplement on, by Prof.

Huxley; development of the gyri and sulci.

Brakenridge, Dr., on the influence of climate.

Brandt, A., on hairy men.

Braubach, Prof., on the quasi-religious feeling of a dog towards his

master; on the self-restraint of dogs.

Brauer, F., on dimorphism in Neurothemis.

Brazil, skulls found in caves of; population of; compression of the

nose by the natives of.

Break between man and the apes.

Bream, proportion of the sexes in the.

Breeding, age of, in birds.

Breeding season, sexual characters making their appearance in the, in

birds.

Brehm, on the effects of intoxicating liquors on monkeys; on the

recognition of women by male Cynocephali; on the diversity of the

mental faculties of monkeys; on the habits of baboons; on revenge taken

by monkeys; on manifestations of maternal affection by monkeys and

baboons; on the instinctive dread of monkeys for serpents; on the use

of stones as missiles by baboons; on a baboon using a mat for shelter

from the sun; on the signal-cries of monkeys; on sentinels posted by

monkeys; on co-operation of animals; on an eagle attacking a young

Cercopithecus; on baboons in confinement protecting one of their number

from punishment; on the habits of baboons when plundering; on polygamy

in Cynocephalus and Cebus; on the numerical proportion of the sexes in

birds; on the love-dance of the blackcock; Palamedea cornuta; on the

habits of the Black-grouse; on sounds produced by birds of paradise; on

assemblages of grouse; on the finding of new mates by birds; on the

fighting of wild boars; on sexual differences in Mycetes; on the habits

of Cynocephalus hamadryas.

Brent, Mr., on the courtship of fowls.

Breslau, numerical proportion of male and female births in.

Bridgeman, Laura.

Brimstone butterfly, sexual difference of colour in the.

British, ancient, tattooing practised by.

Broca, Prof., on the occurrence of the supra-condyloid foramen in the

human humerus; anthropomorphous apes more bipedal than quadrupedal; on

the capacity of Parisian skulls at different periods; comparison of

modern and mediaeval skulls; on tails of quadrupeds; on the influence

of natural selection; on hybridity in man; on human remains from Les

Eyzies; on the cause of the difference between Europeans and Hindoos.

Brodie, Sir B., on the origin of the moral sense in man.

Bronn, H.G., on the copulation of insects of distinct species.

Bronze period, men of, in Europe.

Brown, R., sentinels of seals generally females; on the battles of

seals; on the narwhal; on the occasional absence of the tusks in the

female walrus; on the bladder-nose seal; on the colours of the sexes in

Phoca Groenlandica; on the appreciation of music by seals; on plants

used as love-philters, by North American women.

Browne, Dr. Crichton, injury to infants during parturition.

Brown-Sequard, Dr., on the inheritance of the effects of operations by

guinea-pig.

Bruce, on the use of the elephant’s tusks.

Brulerie, P. de la, on the habits of Ateuchus cicatricosus; on the

stridulation of Ateuchus.

Brunnich, on the pied ravens of the Feroe islands.

Bryant, Dr., preference of tame pigeon for wild mate.

Bryant, Captain, on the courtship of Callorhinus ursinus.

Bubas bison, thoracic projection of.

Bubalus caffer, use of horns.

Bucephalus capensis, difference of the sexes of, in colour.

Buceros, nidification and incubation of.

Buceros bicornis, sexual differences in the colouring of the casque,

beak, and mouth in.

Buceros corrugatus, sexual differences in the beak of.

Buchner, L., on the origin of man; on the use of the human foot as a

prehensile organ; on the mode of progression of the apes; on want of

self-consciousness, etc., in savages.

Bucholz, Dr., quarrels of chamaeleons.

Buckinghamshire, numerical proportion of male and female births in.

Buckland, F., on the numerical proportion of the sexes in rats; on the

proportion of the sexes in the trout; on Chimaera monstrosa.

Buckland, W., on the complexity of crinoids.

Buckler, W., proportion of sexes of Lepidoptera reared by.

Bucorax abyssinicus, inflation of the neck-wattle of the male during

courtship.

Budytes Raii.

Buffalo, Cape.

Buffalo, Indian, horns of the.

Buffalo, Italian, mode of fighting of the.

Buffon, on the number of species of man.

Bufo sikimmensis.

Bugs.

Buist, R., on the proportion of the sexes in salmon; on the pugnacity

of the male salmon.

Bulbul, pugnacity of the male; display of under tail-coverts by the

male.

Bull, mode of fighting of the; curled frontal hair of the.

Buller, Dr., on the Huia; the attachment of birds.

Bullfinch, sexual differences in the; piping; female, singing of the;

courtship of the; widowed, finding a new mate; attacking a

reed-bunting; nestling, sex ascertained by pulling out breast feathers.

Bullfinches, distinguishing persons; rivalry of female.

Bulls, two young, attacking an old one; wild, battles of.

Bull-trout, male, colouring of, during the breeding season.

Bunting, reed, head feathers of the male; attacked by a bullfinch.

Buntings, characters of young.

Buphus coromandus, sexes and young of; change of colour in.

Burchell, Dr., on the zebra; on the extravagance of a Bushwoman in

adorning herself; celibacy unknown among the savages of South Africa;

on the marriage-customs of the Bushwomen.

Burke, on the number of species of man.

Burmese, colour of the beard in.

Burton, Captain, on negro ideas of female beauty; on a universal ideal

of beauty.

Bushmen, marriage among.

Bushwoman, extravagant ornamentation of a.

Bushwomen, hair of; marriage-customs of.

Bustard, throat-pouch of the male; humming noise produced by a male;

Indian, ear-tufts of.

Bustards, occurrence of sexual differences and of polygamy among the;

love-gestures of the male; double moult in.

Butler, A.G., on sexual differences in the wings of Aricoris epitus;

courtship of butterflies; on the colouring of the sexes in species of

Thecla; on the resemblance of Iphias glaucippe to a leaf; on the

rejection of certain moths and caterpillars by lizards and frogs.

Butterfly, noise produced by a; Emperor; meadow brown, instability of

the ocellated spots of.

Butterflies, proportion of the sexes in; forelegs atrophied in some

males; sexual difference in the neuration of the wings of; pugnacity of

male; protective resemblances of the lower surface of; display of the

wings by; white, alighting upon bits of paper; attracted by a dead

specimen of the same species; courtship of; male and female, inhabiting

different stations.

Buxton, C., observations on macaws; on an instance of benevolence in a

parrot.

Buzzard, Indian honey-; variation in the crest of.

Cabbage butterflies.

Cachalot, large head of the male.

Cadences, musical, perception of, by animals.

Caecum, large, in the early progenitors of man.

Cairina moschata, pugnacity of the male.

Californian Indians, decrease of.

Callianassa, chelae of, figured.

Callidryas, colours of sexes.

Callionymus lyra, characters of the male.

Callorhinus ursinus, relative size of the sexes of; courtship of.

Calotes maria.

Calotes nigrilabris, sexual difference in the colour of.

Cambridge, O. Pickard, on the sexes of spiders; on the size of male

Nephila.

Camel, canine teeth of male.

Campbell, J., on the Indian elephant; on the proportion of male and

female births in the harems of Siam.

Campylopterus hemileucurus.

Canaries distinguishing persons.

Canary, polygamy of the; change of plumage in, after moulting; female,

selecting the best singing male; sterile hybrid, singing of a; female,

singing of the; selecting a greenfinch; and siskin, pairing of.

Cancer pagurus.

Canestrini, G., on rudimentary characters and the origin of man; on

rudimentary characters; on the movement of the ear in man; of the

variability of the vermiform appendage in man; on the abnormal division

of the malar bone in man; on abnormal conditions of the human uterus;

on the persistence of the frontal suture in man; on the proportion of

the sexes in silk-moths; secondary sexual characters of spiders.

Canfield, Dr., on the horns of the Antilocapra.

Canine teeth in man, diminution of, in man; diminution of, in horses;

disappearance of, in male ruminants; large in the early progenitors of

man.

Canines, and horns, inverse development of.

Canoes, use of.

Cantharis, difference of colour in the sexes of a species of.

Cantharus lineatus.

Capercailzie, polygamous; proportion of the sexes in the; pugnacity of

the male; pairing of the; autumn meetings of the; call of the; duration

of the courtship of; behaviour of the female; inconvenience of black

colour to the female; sexual difference in the coloration of the;

crimson eye-cere of the male.

Capitonidae, colours and nidification of the.

Capra aegagrus, crest of the male; sexual difference in the colour of.

Capreolus Sibiricus subecaudatus.

Caprice, common to man and animals.

Caprimulgus, noise made by the males of some species of, with their

wings.

Caprimulgus virginianus, pairing of.

Carabidae.

Carbonnier, on the natural history of the pike; on the relative size of

the sexes in fishes; courtship of Chinese Macropus.

Carcineutes, sexual difference of colour in.

Carcinus moenas.

Cardinalis virginianus.

Carduelis elegans, sexual differences of the beak in.

Carnivora, marine, polygamous habits of; sexual differences in the

colours of.

Carp, numerical proportion of the sexes in the.

Carr, R., on the peewit.

Carrier pigeon, late development of the wattle in the.

Carrion beetles, stridulation of.

Carrion-hawk, bright coloured female of.

Carus, Prof. V., on the development of the horns in merino sheep; on

antlers of red deer.

Cassowary, sexes and incubation of the.

Castnia, mode of holding wings.

Castoreum.

Castration, effects of.

Casuarius galeatus.

Cat, convoluted body in the extremity of the tail of a; sick, sympathy

of a dog with a.

Cataract in Cebus Azarae.

Catarrh, liability of Cebus Azarae to.

Catarrhine monkeys.

Caterpillars, bright colours of.

Cathartes aura.

Cathartes jota, love-gestures of the male.

Catlin, G., correlation of colour and texture of hair in the Mandans;

on the development of the beard among the North American Indians; on

the great length of the hair in some North American tribes.

Caton, J.D., on the development of the horns in Cervus virginianus and

strongyloceros; on the wild turkey; on the presence of traces of horns

in the female wapiti; on the fighting of deer; on the crest of the male

wapiti; on the colours of the Virginian deer; on sexual differences of

colour in the wapiti; on the spots of the Virginian deer.

Cats, dreaming; tortoise-shell; enticed by valerian; colours of.

Cattle, rapid increase of, in South America; domestic, lighter in

winter in Siberia; horns of; domestic, sexual differences of, late

developed; numerical proportion of the sexes in.

Caudal vertebrae, number of, in macaques and baboons; basal, of

monkeys, imbedded in the body.

Cavolini, observations on Serranus.

Cebus, maternal affection in a; gradation of species of.

Cebus Apella.

Cebus Azarae, liability of, to the same diseases as man; distinct

sounds produced by; early maturity of the female.

Cebus capucinus, polygamous; sexual differences of colour in; hair on

the head of.

Cebus vellerosus, hair on the head of.

Cecidomyiidae, proportions of the sexes in.

Celibacy, unknown among the savages of South Africa and South America.

Centipedes.

Cephalopoda, absence of secondary sexual characters in.

Cephalopterus ornatus.

Cephalopterus penduliger.

Cerambyx heros, stridulant organ of.

Ceratodus, paddle of.

Ceratophora aspera, nasal appendages of.

Ceratophora Stoddartii, nasal horn of.

Cerceris, habits of.

Cercocebus aethiops, whiskers, etc., of.

Cercopithecus, young, seized by an eagle and rescued by the troop;

definition of species of.

Cercopithecus cephus, sexual difference of colour in.

Cercopithecus cynosurus and griseo-viridis, colour of the scrotum in.

Cercopithecus Diana, sexual differences of colour in.

Cercopithecus griseo-viridis.

Cercopithecus petaurista, whiskers, etc., of.

Ceres, of birds, bright colours of.

Ceriornis Temminckii, swelling of the wattles of the male during

courtship.

Cervulus, weapons of.

Cervulus moschatus, rudimentary horns of the female.

Cervus alces.

Cervus campestris, odour of.

Cervus canadensis, traces of horns in the female; attacking a man;

sexual difference in the colour of.

Cervus elaphus, battles of male; horns of, with numerous points; long

hairs on the throat of.

Cervus Eldi.

Cervus mantchuricus.

Cervus paludosus, colours of.

Cervus strongyloceros.

Cervus virginianus, horns of, in course of modification.

Ceryle, male black-belted in some species of.

Cetacea, nakedness of.

Ceylon, frequent absence of beard in the natives of.

Chaffinch, proportion of the sexes in the; courtship of the.

Chaffinches, new mates found by.

Chalcophaps indicus, characters of young.

Chalcosoma atlas, sexual differences of.

Chamaeleo, sexual differences in the genus; combats of.

Chamaeleo bifurcus.

Chamaeleo Owenii.

Chamaeleo pumilus.

Chamaepetes unicolor, modified wing-feather in the male.

Chameleons.

Chamois, danger-signals of; transfer of male characters to an old

female.

Champneys, Mr., acromio-basilar muscle and quadrupedal gait.

Chapman, Dr., on stridulation in Scolytus.

Chapuis, Dr., on the transmission of sexual peculiarities in pigeons;

on streaked Belgian pigeons.

Char, male, colouring of, during the breeding season.

Characters, male, developed in females; secondary sexual, transmitted

through both sexes; natural, artificial, exaggeration of, by man.

Charadrus hiaticula and pluvialis, sexes and young of.

Chardin on the Persians.

Charms, worn by women.

Charruas, freedom of divorce among the.

Chasmorhynchus, difference of colour in the sexes of; colours of.

Chasmorhynchus niveus.

Chasmorhynchus nudicollis.

Chasmorhynchus tricarunculatus.

Chastity, early estimation of.

Chatterers, sexual differences in.

Cheever, Rev. H.T., census of the Sandwich Islands.

Cheiroptera, absence of secondary sexual characters in.

Chelae of crustacea.

Chelonia, sexual differences in.

Chenalopex aegyptiacus, wing-knobs of.

Chera progne.

Chest, proportions of, in soldiers and sailors; large, of the Quechua

and Aymara Indians.

Chevrotains, canine teeth of.

Chiasognathus, stridulation of.

Chiasognathus Grantii, mandibles of.

Children, legitimate and illegitimate, proportion of the sexes in.

Chiloe, lice of the natives of; population of.

Chimaera monstrosa, bony process on the head of the male.

Chimaeroid fishes, prehensile organs of male.

Chimpanzee, ears of the; representatives of the eyebrows in the; hands

of the; absence of mastoid processes in the; platforms built by the;

cracking nuts with a stone; direction of the hair on the arms of the;

supposed evolution of the; polygamous and social habits of the.

China, North, idea of female beauty in.

China, Southern, inhabitants of.

Chinese, use of flint tools by the; difficulty of distinguishing the

races of the; colour of the beard in; general beardlessness of the;

opinions of the, on the appearance of Europeans and Cingalese;

compression of the feet of.

Chinsurdi, his opinion of beards.

Chlamydera maculata.

Chloeon, pedunculated eyes of the male of.

Chloephaga, coloration of the sexes in.

Chlorocoelus Tanana.

Chorda dorsalis.

Chough, red beak of the.

Chromidae, frontal protuberance in male; sexual differences in colour

of.

Chrysemys picta, long claws of the male.

Chrysococcyx, characters of young of.

Chrysomelidae, stridulation of.

Cicada pruinosa.

Cicada septendecim.

Cicadae, songs of the; rudimentary sound-organs in females of.

Cicatrix of a burn, causing modification of the facial bones.

Cichla, frontal protuberance of male.

Cimetiere du Sud, Paris.

Cincloramphus cruralis, large size of male.

Cinclus aquaticus.

Cingalese, Chinese opinion of the appearance of the.

Cirripedes, complemental males of.

Civilisation, effects of, upon natural selection; influence of, in the

competition of nations.

Clanging of geese, etc.

Claparede, E., on natural selection applied to man.

Clarke, on the marriage-customs of Kalmucks.

Classification.

Claus, C., on the sexes of Saphirina.

Cleft-palate, inherited.

Climacteris erythrops, sexes of.

Climate, cool, favourable to human progress; power of supporting

extremes of, by man; want of connexion of, with colour; direct action

of, on colours of birds.

Cloaca, existence of a, in the early progenitors of man.

Cloacal passage existing in the human embryo.

Clubs, used as weapons before dispersion of mankind.

Clucking of fowls.

Clythra 4-punctata, stridulation of.

Coan, Mr., Sandwich-islanders.

Cobbe, Miss, on morality in hypothetical bee-community.

Cobra, ingenuity of a.

Coccus.

Coccyx, in the human embryo; convoluted body at the extremity of the;

imbedded in the body.

Cochin-China, notions of beauty of the inhabitants of.

Cock, blind, fed by its companion; game, killing a kite; comb and

wattles of the; preference shewn by the, for young hens; game,

transparent zone in the hackles of a.

Cock of the rock.

Cockatoos, nestling; black, immature plumage of.