SEXUAL SELECTION. 251 



world. Xevertheless, from the strength of the feeling of 

 jealousy all through the animal kingdom, as well as from 

 the analogy of the lower animals, more particularly of 

 those which come nearest to man, I can not believe that 

 absolutely promiscuous intercourse prevailed in times 

 past, shortly before man attained to his present rank in 

 the zoological scale. Man, as I have attempted to show, 

 is certainly descended from some ape-like creature. With 

 the existing Quadrumana, as far as their habits are known, 

 the males of some species are monogamous, but live dur- 

 ing only a part of the year with the females ; of this the 

 orang seems to afford an instance. Several kinds, for 

 example, some of the Indian and American monkeys, are 

 strictly monogamous, and associate all the year round 

 with their wives. Others are polygamous, for example, 

 the gorilla and several American species, and each family 

 lives separate. 



Therefore, looking far enough back in the 

 stream of time, and judging from the social 

 habits of man as he now exists, the most probable view 

 is that he aboriginally lived in small communities, each 

 with a single wife, or, if powerful, with several, whom 

 he jealously guarded against all other men. Or he may 

 not have been a social animal, and yet have lived with 

 several wives, like the gorilla ; for all the natives " agree 

 that but one adult male is seen in a band ; when the 

 young male grows up, a contest takes place for mastery, 

 and the strongest, by killing and driving out the others, 

 establishes himself as the head of the community." The 

 younger males, being thus expelled and wandering about, 

 would, when at last successful in finding a partner, pre- 

 vent too close interbreeding within the limits of the same 

 family. 



