The Making of Species 



As Geddes and Thomson say (page 29 of 

 The Evolution of Sex\ " When we consider the 

 complexity of the markings of the male bird or 

 insect, and the slow gradations from one step of 

 perfection to another, it seems difficult to credit 

 birds or butterflies with a degree of aesthetic 

 development exhibited by no human being with- 

 out special aesthetic acuteness and special train- 

 ing. Moreover, the butterfly, which is supposed 

 to possess this extraordinary development of 

 psychological subtlety, will fly naively to a piece 

 of white paper on the ground, and is attracted 

 by the primary aesthetic stimulus of an old- 

 fashioned wall-paper, not to speak of the gaudy 

 and monotonous brightness of some of our garden 

 flowers. Thus we have the further difficulty, 

 that we must suppose the female butterfly to 

 have a double standard of taste, one for the 

 flowers which she and her mate both visit, the 

 other for the far more complex colourings and 

 markings of the males. And even among birds, 

 if we take those unmistakable hints of real 

 awakening of the aesthetic sense which are 

 exhibited by the Australian bower-bird or by 

 the common jackdaw in its fondness for bright 

 objects, how very rude is his taste compared 

 with the critical examination of infinitesimal 

 variations of plumage on which Darwin relies. 

 Is not, therefore, his essential supposition too 

 glaringly anthropomorphic ? 



306 



