208 DARWINISM AND HUMAN LIFE 



exercised by the coy females. All sorts of mascu- 

 line weapons, such as antlers ; all sort of decora- 

 tions, such as brilliant plumage ; all sorts of 

 excitants, such as love-calls and fragrance, may 

 be interpreted in terms of the sexual selection 

 which seems to occur in many cases, especially 

 where there are more males than females, or where 

 polygamy occurs. The whole matter is difficult, 

 perhaps more difficult than Darwin thought, and 

 there is great difference of opinion in regard to it. 

 Wallace does not see his way to believing at all 

 in the action of female choice ; Weismann is whole- 

 heartedly with Darwin. It must suffice to state 

 a few conclusions based on some of the post- 

 Darwinian contributions to this fascinating subject. 



(a) The combats of rival males are often very 

 fierce. The younger or weaker candidates may be 

 killed, or expelled, or left unmated. In such 

 cases there seems little reason to doubt the dia- 

 criminateness of the elimination. In some curious 

 cases, as in spiders, the tournaments are prolonged, 

 but the combatants do not seem to hurt one 

 another ; and it is possible that the significance 

 of the jousting is to excite the females, who some- 

 times stand by, as it were interested spectators. 

 In some other cases, e.g. among Lamelhcorn 

 beetles and Bearded Monkeys, there seems to be 

 more bluffing than fighting, for precedence is given 

 to the candidate of most imposing appearance. 



(b) In regard to those masculine characters which 

 indubitably attract the female and probably serve 

 to excite her and to overcome her coyness, there 

 seems, as Wallace has consistently maintained, 

 very little evidence that the female chooses a 

 partner out of a number of suitors. At the same 



