590 



THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



own a full-grown 

 From the names 

 old legends it 

 hear from 



in 



experience, male dogs go on growing in stature till they 

 are from twelve to eighteen months old, and in weight till 

 from eighteen to twenty-four months old; while the females 

 cease increasing in stature at the age of from nine to four- 

 teen or fifteen months, and in weight at the age of from 

 twelve to fifteen months. From these various statements 

 it is clear that the full difference in size between the male 

 and female Scotch deer-hound is not acquired until rather 

 late in life. The males almost exclusively are used for 



coursing, for, as Mr. Me- 

 Neill informs me, the fe- 

 males have not sufficient 

 strength and weight to 

 pull 

 deer, 

 used 



appears, as I 

 Mr. Cupples, that at a 

 very ancient period the 

 males were the most 

 celebrated, the females 

 being mentioned only as 

 the mothers of famous 



Plef. 65. Head of common wild boar, m j^. TT^, 



prime of life (from Brehm). dogs. Hence, during 



many generations it is the 



male which has been chiefly tested for strength, size, speed 

 and courage, and the best will have been bred from. As, 

 however, the males do not attain their full dimensions until 

 rather late in life they will have tended, in accordance 

 with the law often indicated, to transmit their characters 

 to their male off spring alone; and thus the great inequality 

 in size between the sexes of the Scotch deer-hound may 

 probably be accounted for. 



The males of some few quadrupeds possess organs or 

 parts developed solely as a means of defense against the 

 attacks of other males. Some kinds of deer use, as we 

 have seen, the upper branches of their horns chiefly or 

 exclusively for defending themselves: and the Oryx ante- 

 lope, as I am informed by Mr. Bartlett, fences most skill- 

 fully with his long, gently curved horns; but these ai'Q 

 likewise used as organs of offense. The same observer 

 remarks that rhinoceroses in fighting parry each other's 

 sidelong blows with their horns,, which clatter loudly 



