570 



THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAMMALS. 



The law of battle Special weapons, confined to the males Cause of 

 absence of weapons in the female Weapons common to both 

 sexes, yet primarily acquired by the male Other uses of such 

 weapons Their high importance Greater size of the male 

 Means of defense On the preference shown by either sex in the 

 pairing of quadrupeds. 



WITH mammals the male appears to win the female 

 much more through the law of battle than through the 

 display of his charms. The most timid animals, not pro- 

 vided with any special weapons for fighting, engage in des- 

 perate conflicts during the season of love. Two male hares 

 nave been seen to fight together until one was killed; male 

 moles often fight, and sometimes with fatal results ; male 

 squirrels engage in frequent contests, ** and often wound 

 each other severely;" as do male beavers, so that " hardly 

 a skin is without scars."* I observed the same fact with 

 the hides of the guanacoes in Patagonia; and on one occa- 

 sion several were so absorbed in fighting that they fear- 

 lessly rushed close by me, Livingstone speaks of the inalea 

 of the many animals in Southern Africa as almost invari- 

 ably showing the scars received in former contests. 



The law of battle prevails with aquatic as with terrestrial 

 mammals. It is notorious how desperately male seals fight, 

 both with their teeth and claws, during the breeding- 

 season ; and their hides are likewise often covered with 

 scars. Male sperm-whales are very jealous at this season; 

 and in tneir battles ;< they often lock their jaws together 



*See Waterton's account of two hares fighting, "Zoologist," vol. 

 i, 1843, p 211. On moles, Bell, "Hist, of British Quadrupeds," 1st 

 edit., p. 100. On squirrels, Audubon and Bachinan, if Viviparous 

 Quadrupeds of North America," 1846, p. 269. On beavers, Mr. A. 

 H. Green, in " Journal of Lin. Soc. Zoolog.," vol. x, 1869, p. 362. 



