46 THE COURTSHIP OF ANIMALS 



Of the display Cuvier writes : " La partie posterieure 

 du corps n'est ni moins extraordinaire ni moins revoltante. 

 Sous une courte queue sans cesse relevee est un anus 

 entoure d'un gros bourrelet d'ecarlate ; de larges fesses 

 nues, que Panimal semble montrer sans cesse avec autant 

 de lascivite que d'impudence, sont colorees d'un rose 

 vif nuance sur les c6tes de lilas et de bleu. Les parties 

 genitales enfin sont d'un rouge de feu d'autant plus tran- 

 che qu'elles sont absolument nues, et qu'elles viennent 

 a la suite d'un abdomen revetu de poils blancs." 



While we cannot suppose these animals to possess any 

 standard of beauty or ugliness, it must not be forgotten 

 that they are more or less conscious, not only of the 

 existence of these brightly-coloured areas, but of the effect 

 they produce, as Darwin showed long since in the cases of 

 a captive Mandrill, and some other smaller species of 

 Monkeys, among them a Rhesus Monkey. These, when 

 shown a looking-glass, at once presented their hinder 

 ends to what they supposed to be the new arrival. A 

 similar mark of friendliness was shown towards their 

 keeper, and visitors introduced by him. Periodically, 

 under the sexual stimulus, this desire becomes intensified 

 and becomes an invitation to mating. 



In this connection it is interesting to note that in some 

 of the Macaque Monkeys we have signs of a reversal 

 of the usual sequence of coloration. For in the Pig- 

 tailed Macaque the young of both sexes are more brilliantly 

 coloured than the adults, in regard to the bare skin areas, 

 while in the Hairy-eared Macaque (M. lasiotis) and the 

 Rhesus Monkey {M. rhesus) the face of the female is 

 brighter than that of the male. This surely means that 

 this coloration is in process of suppression, for according 

 to the rule the male is the first to develop new characters, 



