THE THEORY 9 



ence, and to reproduce itself, better than 

 other pairs whose males do not possess this 

 added character. Such a character, associated 

 in the first place with maleness, will be 

 handed down by the male to the pair's male 

 offspring. Such a character should be looked 

 upon as a character of the pair and not of 

 the male, although bound to him. 



So with other societies, parents or young 

 may possess, as variations, characters which 

 enable the family to reproduce itself better 

 than other families. When these become 

 fixed they must be looked upon, not as 

 characters of old individuals or young, but 

 as family characters. 



It is possible to now explain heading 4. 



4. These Diversities, &c. If pairs, families, 

 or other societies have characters, and if, 

 within these societies, there are individuals 

 of different value, then these societies must 

 possess characters which compel Natural 

 Selection to select the less valuable indi- 

 viduals rather than the more valuable. 



Suppose a pair be subjected to selection, 

 and suppose the male has, as variations, a 

 character which causes the selecting agent to 

 destroy him, the less valuable, rather than the 

 female, the more valuable ; then this pair will 



