Little Masterpieces of Science: The Naturalist as Interpreter and Seer
History
Little Masterpieces of Science: The Naturalist as Interpreter and Seer
Evolution (Biology); Natural history
In the most distinct classes of the animal kingdom--in mammals, birds,
fishes, insects and even crustaceans--the differences between the sexes
follow almost exactly 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 colors, often
arranged in elegant patterns, while 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 transferred in
a greater or less degree 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 surprisingly 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 throughout all the higher
divisions of the animal kingdom of one common cause; namely, sexual
selection.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account