WEAK AND STRONG FEMALES 117 



39. Votes for Women 



Now that so many people placidly accept the notion 

 that women are to have votes in the election of members 

 of Parliament, one is tempted to ask whether science 

 has any facts to put forward which should be considered 

 before so great a change in our national organisation is 

 made. There are various interesting facts as to the rela- 

 tions of males and females in the animal world and as to 

 the relative strength and activity of the sexes which 

 are sometimes cited as arguments in the matter. Speak- 

 ing generally, it is clear enough that among animals the 

 female is endowed with qualities which bear exclusively 

 upon her function as the guardian of the eggs or germs 

 of a new generation. She nourishes those germs at the 

 expense of her own substance before birth, feeds them, 

 tends them and protects them after birth. The male 

 in many cases contributes to the feeding and protection 

 of the young, but is as often as not quite unconcerned 

 with such matters. In the higher animals the male is 

 far more powerful than the female, and fights with other 

 males both for the possession of a mate or a harem, and 

 for the undisturbed occupation of feeding grounds for 

 himself and family. 



Among lower animals there are curious cases of the 

 greater strength and size of the female. Thus, among 

 spiders, the female is nearly twice as bulky as the male. 

 She makes, in many cases, a nest ready for her young, 

 and is visited there by the wandering irresponsible male, 

 who, in spite of great danger to himself, is irresistibly 

 attracted to seek a brief caress from the terrible spideress. 

 She is terrible, not only on account of her bulk, but 

 because she makes a rule of killing, and sucking the 

 blood of, her infatuated admirer unless he is sufficiently 

 alert and agile to escape from her side more quickly 



