The Law of Battle 



stronger male wins, and thus emerges that par- 

 ticular form of sexual selection which Darwin 

 termed "the law of battle." 



" There are," writes Darwin, on page 324 of 

 The Descent of Man, " many other structures and 

 instincts which must have developed through 

 sexual selection such as the weapons of offence 

 and the means of defence of the males for 

 fighting with and driving away their rivals 

 their courage and pugnacity their various orna- 

 ments their contrivances for producing vocal 

 or instrumental music and their glands for 

 emitting odours." The former characters have, 

 according to Darwin, been developed by the law 

 of battle, and the latter, since they serve only 

 to allure or excite the female, by the preference 

 of the female. 



" It is clear," continues Darwin, " that these 

 characters are the result of sexual and not of 

 ordinary selection, since unarmed, unornamented, 

 or unattractive males would succeed equally well 

 in the battle for life and in leaving a numerous 

 progeny, but for the presence of better-endowed 

 males. We may infer that this would be the 

 case, because the females, which are unarmed and 

 unornamented, are able to survive and procreate 

 their kind. . . . Just as man can improve the 

 breed of his game-cocks by the selection of those 

 birds which are victorious in the cockpit, so it 

 appears that the strongest and most vigorous 



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