216 Evolution and Adaptation 



male for another set. It sounds a little strange to suppose 

 that women have caused the beard of man to develop by se- 

 lecting the best-bearded individuals, and the compliment has 

 been returned by the males selecting the females that have 

 the least amount of beard. It is also assumed that the results 

 of the selection are transmitted to one sex only. Unless, in 

 fact, the character in question were from the beginning 

 peculiar to only one sex as to its inheritance, the two sexes 

 might go on forever selecting at cross-purposes, and the result 

 would be nothing. 



6. The development, or the presence, of the aesthetic feel- 

 ing in the selecting sex is not accounted for on the theory. 

 There is just as much need to explain why the females are 

 gifted with an appreciation of the beautiful, as that the beau- 

 tiful colors develop in the males. Shall we assume that still 

 another process of selection is going on, as a result of which 

 those females are selected by the males that appreciate their 

 unusual beauty, or that those females whose taste has soared 

 a little higher than that of the average (a variation of this 

 sort having appeared) select males to correspond, and thus the 

 two continue heaping up the ornaments on one side and the 

 appreciation of these ornaments on the other ? No doubt an 

 interesting fiction could be built up along these lines, but 

 would any one believe it, and, if he did, could he prove it ? 



Darwin assumes that the appreciation on the part of the 

 female is always present, and he thus simplifies, in appearance, 

 the problem, but he leaves half of it unexplained. 



7. It has been pointed out, that it is important to dis- 

 tinguish between the possible excitement of the female by 

 the display or antics of the male, and the selection of the 

 more beautiful or agile performer. Darwin himself records 

 a few cases, which plainly show that the more beautiful is 

 not always the more successful. It has also been suggested 

 that the battles of the males are sometimes sham performances, 

 and even when they are real, if the less vigorous do not remain 



