306 LESSONS FEOM NATURE. [CHAP. X. 



As to the Bombycidee he adds : 



&quot; The females lie in a torpid state, and appear not to evince the least 

 choice in regard to their partners. This is the case with the common 

 silk-moth (. wort). Dr. Wallace, who has had such immense experi 

 ence in breeding Bombyx cynthia, is convinced that the females evince 

 no choice or preference. He has kept above three hundred of these 

 moths living together, and has often found the most vigorous females 

 mated with stunted males.&quot; 



Nevertheless, we do not find, for all this, any defect of 

 colour or markings, for, as Mr. Wallace observes ( Nature, 

 March 15, 1871, p. 182), &quot;the Bombyces are amongst the 

 most elegantly coloured of all moths.&quot; 



Mr. Darwin gives a number of instances of sexual charac 

 ters, such as horns, spines, &c., in beetles and other insects ; 

 but there is no fragment of evidence that such structures are 

 in any way due to feminine caprice. Other structures are 

 described and figured which doubtless do aid the sexual act, 

 as the claws of certain Crustacea ; but these are often of such 

 size and strength (e.g., in Callianassa and Orchestia) as to 

 render any power of choice on the part of the female in the 

 highest degree incredible. 



Similarly with the higher classes, i.e., fishes, reptiles, and 

 beasts, we have descriptions and representations of 



Fishes and . . . -. 



Reptiles. a num ber of sexual peculiarities, but no evidence 

 whatever that such characters are due to female selection. 

 Often we have statements which conflict strongly with any 

 such action. Thus, e.g., Mr. Darwin quotes Mr. E. Buist, 

 Superintendent of Fisheries, as saying that male salmon 



&quot; are constantly fighting and tearing each other on the spawning- 

 beds, and many so injure each other as to cause the death of numbers, 

 many being seen swimming near the banks of the river in a state of 

 exhaustion, and apparently in a dying state ; and that the keeper of 

 Stormontfield found in the northern Tyne about three hundred dead 

 salmon, all of which, with one exception, were males ; and he was con 

 vinced that they had lost their lives by fighting.&quot; Vol. ii. p. 3. 



The female s choice must here be much limited, and the 

 only kind of sexual selection which can operate is that first 



