Although this power of choice, which we are given to understand is exercised by the female throughout the various departments of the vertebrate kingdom (evidences of it having been observed among creatures even as low in the organic scale as fishes), implies a degree of intelligence far in advance of that manifested by males, it is admitted that the qualities which bespeak this superiority, namely, the power to exercise taste and discrimination, constitute a “law almost as general as the eagerness of the male.”[19] [19] _The Descent of Man_, 1877, p. 222. We are assured by Mr. Darwin that in the economy of nature those ornaments of the male Argus pheasant which serve no other purpose than to please the female and secure her favours, and which have been acquired at great expense of vital force, are of the “highest importance to him,” and that his success in captivating the female “has more than compensated him for his greatly impeded power of flight and his lessened capacity for running.” Yet it is plain that his compensation for this immense expenditure of vital force has not lain in the direction of higher specialization, but that while by the acquirement of these characters the processes of reproduction have doubtless been aided, the injury to the male constitution has been deep and lasting. Upon this subject Mr. Darwin himself says: The development, however, of certain structures—of the horns, for instance, in certain stags—has been carried to a wonderful extreme; and in some cases to an extreme which, as far as the general conditions of life are concerned, must be slightly injurious to the male.[20] [20] _Ibid._, p. 227. He thinks, however, that Natural Selection will determine that such characters shall not be acquired by the victorious males if they would be highly injurious, either by expending too much of their vital powers or by exposing them to any great danger. According to Mr. Darwin, as these characters enable them to leave a more numerous progeny, their advantages are in the long run greater than those derived from more perfect adaptation to their conditions of life. It is plain, however, that this advantage, although it enables them to gratify their desires, and at the same time to perpetuate their species, does not imply higher development for the male organism.