THE SEXUAL SELECTION THEORY 149 



stimulates the flow of saliva, or " makes the mouth water " 

 before we are conscious of feeling hungry. In due time 

 hunger will assert itself without the stimulus of the nervous 

 system through the senses. But there must in any case 

 be some form of display, some form of communicating 

 and stimulating desire between the sexes, to secure the 

 consummation of the reproductive acts. How else could 

 intimation of sex hunger be indicated and satisfied ? 



That the desire for sexual congress is inherently more 

 avid, more intense, in the male than in the female is often 

 called in question ; and more especially so by those who 

 imagine that they have a mission to carry on " social 

 reforms " and to regulate the relations between the sexes 

 of the human race. Such aims and ambitions are 

 commonly those of the arrogantly ignorant. There are 

 few people who possess a sufficiently wide knowledge of 

 this theme, or of the factors which underlie it, to qualify 

 them to become the mentors of their fellow-men in these 

 matters. However much we may choose to seek refuge in 

 sophistry, the fact remains that man is still an animal, 

 and if the human race is to continue he must always 

 remain so. 



A lurid light has just been shed on the fierceness of the 

 sexual passion in the male by Mr. Julian Huxley, who 

 relates some facts pregnant with meaning to all who have 

 understanding, in regard to what obtains among birds. 

 These facts are primarily concerned with the Mallard {Anas 

 boscas). This bird is ostensibly monogamous, and, on the 

 whole, seems to be a fairly considerate mate. The normal 

 period of pairing having passed, and the duties of incuba- 

 tion having begun, the female ceases to harbour any 

 further desire for sexual intimacy. Her whole energies 

 are devoted to nursing her embryonic young into life. 



