The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol. IDarwin, Charles
Science
The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol. I
Darwin, Charles
Evolution (Biology); Human beings -- Origin; Sex differences; Sexual dimorphism (Animals); Sexual selection in animals
With animals which have their sexes separated, the males necessarily
differ from the females in their organs of reproduction; and these
afford the primary sexual characters. But the sexes often differ in what
Hunter has called secondary sexual characters, which are not directly
connected with the act of reproduction; for instance, in the male
possessing certain organs of sense or locomotion, of which the female is
quite destitute, or in having them more highly-developed, in order that
he may readily find or reach her; or again, in the male having special
organs of prehension so as to hold her securely. These latter organs of
infinitely diversified kinds graduate into, and in some cases can hardly
be distinguished from, those which are commonly ranked as primary, such
as the complex appendages at the apex of the abdomen in male insects.
Unless indeed we confine the term “primary” to the reproductive glands,
it is scarcely possible to decide, as far as the organs of prehension
are concerned, which ought to be called primary and which secondary.
The female often differs from the male in having organs for the
nourishment or protection of her young, as the mammary glands of
mammals, and the abdominal sacks of the marsupials. The male, also, in
some few cases differs from the female in possessing analogous organs,
as the receptacles for the ova possessed by the males of certain fishes,
and those temporarily developed in certain male frogs. Female bees have
a special apparatus for collecting and carrying pollen, and their
ovipositor is modified into a sting for the defence of their larvæ and
the community. In the females of many insects the ovipositor is modified
in the most complex manner for the safe placing of the eggs. Numerous
similar cases could be given, but they do not here concern us. There
are, however, other sexual differences quite disconnected with the
primary organs with which we are more especially concerned—such as the
greater size, strength, and pugnacity of the male, his weapons of
offence or means of defence against rivals, his gaudy colouring and
various ornaments, his power of song, and other such characters.
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