184 Sense of Beauty Left Ultimate. 



the females. The slightest favorable variation 

 would enable the victorious possessor to propagate 

 it, be it a modification adapted to destroy rival 

 wooers or to win the coveted female. To the 

 first class belong those weapons of offence and de 

 fence the courage and pugnacity, the superior 

 strength and build in which most males differ 

 from the females. Still more interesting is the 

 second class. For courtship among the lower an 

 imals is far from being simply a matter of brute 

 force. The females appear to have much more 

 freedom of choice than the women of the low r est 

 races of mankind. The male, therefore, has not 

 only to conquer his rivals, but to win the female. 

 And the female, such is the animal sense of 

 beauty, is most excited by, or prefers pairing with, 

 the more ornamental male, or the male which 

 sings best or plays the best antics. Hence, in a 

 state of nature, the females by a long selection of 

 the more attractive males have gradually added 

 to their beauty or other attractive qualities. And 

 Darwin shows in a most ingenious manner how, 

 owing to female susceptibility to beauty, the 

 charms of the males of the most different orders 

 and species have been acquired through sexual se 

 lection. His illustrations fill a volume, but none 

 of them are more delightful than those refer- 



