268 THE HISTORY OF CREATION. 



melodious to us, but which please the female grasshoppers 

 so much that they choose the male who fiddles the best. 



Among other insects and birds it is not song or, in fact, 

 any musical accomplishment, but finery or beauty of the 

 one sex which attracts the other. Thus we find that, amoner 

 most gallinaceous birds, the cocks are distinguished by combs 

 on their heads, or by a beautiful tail, which they can spread 

 out Hke a fan ; as for example, in the case of the peacock 

 and turkey-cock. The magnificent tail of the bird of para- 

 dise is also an exclusive ornament of the male sex. In like 

 manner, among very many other birds and very many 

 insects, principally among butterflies, the males are dis- 

 tinguished from the females by special colours or other 

 decorations. These are evidently the results of sexual 

 selection. As the females do not possess these attractions 

 and decorations, we must come to the conclusion that they 

 have been acquired by degrees by the males in the competi- 

 tion for the females, which takes its origin in the selective 

 discrimination of the females. 



We may easily picture to ourselves, in detail, the ap- 

 plication of this interesting conclusion to the human com- 

 munity. Here, also, the same causes have evidently in- 

 fluenced the development of the secondary sexual characters. 

 The characteristics distinguishing the man, as well as those 

 distinguishing the woman, owe their origin, certainly for the 

 most part, to the sexual selection of the other sex. In an- 

 tiquity and in the Middle Ages, especially in the romantic 

 age of chivalry, it was the bodily struggles to the death — the 

 tournaments and duels — which determined the choice of the 

 bride ; the strongest carried home the bride. In more recent 

 times, however, in our so-called " polished " or " highly civil- 



