

MAMMALS. 



633 



we look back to the various cases given in this and the 

 last chapter. 



The law of the equal transmission of characters to both 

 sexes, as far as color and other ornaments are concerned, 

 has prevailed far more extensively with mammals than with 

 birds; but weapons, such as horns and tusks, have often 

 been transmitted either exclusively or much more perfectly 

 to the males than to the females. This is surprising, for, 

 as the males generally use their weapons for defense against 

 enemies of all kinds, their weapons would have been of 

 service to the females. As far as we can see their absence 

 in this sex can be accounted for only by the form of inher- 

 itance which has prevailed. Finally, with quadrupeds the 

 contest between the individuals of the same sex, whether 

 peaceful or bloody, has, with the rarest exceptions, been 

 confined to the males; so that the latter have been modified 

 through sexual selection, far more commonly than the 

 females, either for fighting with each other or for alluring 

 the opposite sex. 



