276 SEXUAL SELECTION : MAMMALS. Part U. 



bellowing serves as a call to tlie female ; but the 

 experienced observers above quoted inform me that 

 female deer do not search for the male, though the 

 males search eagerly for the females, as indeed might 

 be expected from what we know of the habits of 

 other male quadrupeds. The voice of the female, 

 on the other hand, quickly brings to her one or more 

 stags,^ as is well known to the hunters who in wild 

 countries imitate her cry. If we could believe that 

 the male had the power to excite or allure the female 

 by his voice, the periodical enlargement of his vocal 

 organs would be intelligible on the principle of sexual 

 selection, together with inheritance limited to the same 

 sex and season of the year ; but we have no evidence 

 in favour of this view. As the case stands, the loud 

 voice of the stag during the breeding season does not 

 seem to be of any special service to him, either during 

 his courtship or battles, or in any other way. But may 

 we not believe that the frequent use of the voice, under 

 the strong excitement of love, jealousy, and rage, con- 

 tinued during many generations, may at last have 

 produced an inherited effect on the vocal organs of 

 the stag, as well as of other male animals ? This 

 appears to me, with our present state of knowledge, 

 the most probable view. 



The male gorilla has a tremendous voice, and when 

 adult is furnished with a laryngeal sack, as is likewise 

 the adult male orang.* The gibbons rank amongst the 

 noisiest of monkeys, and the Sumatra species {Hylohates 

 sijndadylus) is also furnished with a laryngeal sack ; but 

 Mr. Blyth, who has had opportunities for observation. 



•^ See, f(T instance, Major W. Eoss King (' The Sportsman in Canada,' 

 1866, p. 53, 131) on tbe habits of the moose and wild reindeer. 

 •* Owen, ' Anatomy of Vertebrates,' vol. iii. p. 600. 



