At its base, the love of animals does not differ from that of man. Doubtless it is never such a quintessence as the love of Petrarch, but it is often more delicate than that of inferior races, and of ill-conditioned individuals, who, though belonging to the human race, seek for nothing in love but, to use an energetic expression of Amyot’s Plutarch, to “get drunk.” But among many of the animal species the sexual union induces a durable association, having for its object the rearing of young. In nobility, delicacy, and devotion these unions do not yield precedence to many human unions. They deserve attentive study. I have now, therefore, to consider marriage and the family amongst the animals. FOOTNOTES: [1] _Anthropogenia_, p. 577. [2] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 384. [3] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 365. [4] Bartram, _Travels through Carolina_, p. 128 (1791). [5] Audubon, _Scènes de la Nature dans les États-Unis_, vol. i. p. 383. [6] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 66. [7] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 399. [8] _Ibid._ p. 403. [9] Espinas, _Sociétés Animales_, p. 326. [10] Audubon, _loc. cit._, vol. i. p. 305. [11] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 50. [12] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 438. [13] _Ibid._ p. 438. [14] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 433.--Espinas, _Soc. Animales_, p. 326. [15] _Ibid._ pp. 418, 453. [16] _Annali del Museo civico di storia naturale di Genova_, t. ix. fase 3-4, 1877. [17] Espinas, _loc. cit._, pp. 299, 438. [18] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 460. [19] Houzeau, _Facultés mentales des animaux_, t. I^{er.} p. 292. [20] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, pp. 550, 556. [21] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, pp. 460, 461. [22] _Ibid._ p. 457. [23] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 575. [24] _Ibid._ p. 576. [25] _Ibid._ p. 576. [26] _Ibid._ pp. 458, 459. [27] _Ibid._ p. 574. [28] _Ibid._ p. 234. CHAPTER II. MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY AMONGST ANIMALS. I. _The preservation of species._--Two great processes of preservation--Different _rôles_ of the male and the female in the animal family. II. _Marriage and the rearing of the young among animals._--Abandonment of the young in the inferior species--The superior molluscs guard their eggs--Solicitude of spiders for their eggs and their young--Instinctive foresight of insects--Its origin--Larvæ are ancestral forms--The familial instinct amongst birds--Frequency of monogamy amongst birds. III. _The family amongst animals._--Intoxication of egg-laying with birds--Absence of paternal love in certain birds--The familial instinct very developed in certain species--Transient nature of their love for the young--Promiscuity, polygamy, and monogamy among mammals--Hordes of sociable animals--Polygamous monkeys--Monogamous monkeys--General observations. I. _The Preservation of Species._