THE SEXUAL SELECTION THEORY 137 



To-day the interpretation which holds the field is 

 Darwin's theory of " Sexual Selection." But this was 

 framed rather to account for the existence of conspicuous 

 secondary sexual characters — the antlers of Deer, the 

 train of the Peacock, and so on ; it did not take cognizance 

 of the unarmed, and the soberly-clad individuals. But 

 whatever shortcomings we may discover, real or 

 imaginary, in this theory, we must never forget that he 

 had not only to analyse and present his facts, but he 

 had first to collect them. This, in his case, was a more 

 laborious task than most people seem to suppose. Our 

 criticisms to-day are based, not so much on the revelations 

 of new facts, as on the harvests of his gleaning. Yet when 

 all is said and done, the theory of " Sexual Selection " 

 remains, though perhaps in a new setting. 



To attempt to epitomize this theory is to essay a very 

 difficult task. But, in a condensed form, it may be said 

 to be a theory which accounts for the development of 

 secondary sexual characters, on the one hand through 

 the agency of conquest by battle, whereby rival males 

 strive for the possession of one or more females, who 

 have no choice in the matter, or who may deliberately 

 elect to follow the victor : and on the other by display 

 of conspicuous ornamentation, or of more or less grotesque 

 antics, or of some form of music, using this term in a 

 very wide sense. Wherever display is the agent, how- 

 ever, its purpose seems to be to win the affections of the 

 female to whom such attentions are addressed. She is 

 supposed to elect to mate with the finest performers 

 of a number of suitors. In this way, it is assumed, the 

 intensity of the display, whatever its nature, has been 

 gradually increased. 



Wallace strongly opposed this, contending that it 



