The Evidence from Sexual Characters. 231 



differ from each other in external appearance, it is the 

 male which, with rare exceptions, has been chiefly 

 modified: for the femtile still remains more like the 

 young of her own species, and more like the other mem- 

 bers of the same group. The cause of this seems to lie 

 in the males of almost all animals having stronger pas- 

 sions than the females." 



He points out that it is the males that fight together 

 and display their charms before the females ; that among 

 mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, and batrachians, the 

 male is known to be much more eager than the female ; 

 that among insects it is a law that the male seeks the 

 female ; that among spiders and Crustacea the males are 

 more active and erotic than the females, and that in 

 these latter groups the organs of sense and of locomotion 

 are often more highly developed in the male than in the 

 female. The female, on thef>ther hand, is, with the ra* 

 rest exceptions, less eager than the male : she is coy, re 

 quires to be courted, and may often be seen for a long 

 time endeavoring to escape from the male. 



He gives the following explanation of the manner in 

 which the male has been rendered more eager than the 

 female, so that he searches for her and plays the more 

 active part in courtship in so many widely distinct 

 classes of animals : 



"Ik would be no advantage and some loss of power if 

 both sexes were mutually to search for each other; but 

 why should the mule almost always be the seeker ? With 

 plants, the. ovules after fertilization have to be nourished 

 for a time; hence the pollen is necessarily brought to the. 

 female organs being placed on the stigma, through the 

 agency of insects or of the wind, or by the spontaneous 

 movements of the stamens, and with the algae, etc., by 

 the locomotive power of the antherozooids. With lowly 



