On the other hand, secondary sexual characters which belong to the species in a state of nature are sometimes quite lost, or greatly diminished, under domestication. We see this in the small size of the tusks in our improved breeds of the pig, in comparison with those of the wild boar. There are sub- breeds of fowls, in which the males have lost the fine-flowing tail-feathers and hackles; and others in which there is no difference in colour between the two sexes. In some cases the barred plumage, which in gallinaceous birds is commonly the attribute of the hen, has been transferred to the cock, as in the cuckoo sub-breeds. In other cases masculine characters have been partly transferred to the female, as with the splendid plumage of the golden-spangled Hamburgh hen, the enlarged comb of the Spanish hen, the pugnacious disposition of the Game hen, and as in the well-developed spurs which occasionally appear in the hens of various breeds. In Polish fowls both sexes are ornamented with a topknot, that of the male being formed of hackle-like feathers, and this is a new male character in the genus Gallus. On the whole, as far as I can judge, new characters are more apt to appear in the males of our domesticated animals than in the females (14/29. I have given in my 'Descent of Man' 2nd edition page 223 sufficient evidence that male animals are usually more variable than the females.), and afterwards to be inherited exclusively or more strongly by the males. Finally, in accordance with the principle of inheritance as limited by sex, the preservation and augmentation of secondary sexual characters in natural species offers no especial difficulty, as this would follow through that form of selection which I have called sexual selection. INHERITANCE AT CORRESPONDING PERIODS OF LIFE.