102 CONTROLLED NATURAL SELECTION 



tection of their young (instinctively), why 

 should not similar performances and exhibi- 

 tions on the part of the male, be to protect 

 the female ? A more detailed comparison of 

 the means the parent uses to protect the 

 young, with the pre-copulatory displays of the 

 male, shows how strikingly similar are not 

 only the methods used, but the actual move- 

 ments, positions, and sounds, &c., made. In 

 one case a given stimulus, the presence of an 

 enemy coupled with possession of young, 

 causes the parent to instinctively react ; in 

 the other a given stimulus, the presence of 

 an enemy, either real or assumed, coupled 

 with the sexual possession of a female, causes 

 the male to react in a similar manner. And 

 just as attracting instincts in both sexes serve 

 to protect the young, and in the male to 

 protect the female, so the attracting colour 

 of parents and males will have the same 

 effect. 



Further, these displays, pre-copulatory and 

 for young protection, are often made when 

 neither females nor young are present, but at 

 the approach of an enemy; they are then 

 called expressions of fear, instead of reactions 

 to a stimulus. May not this be the stimulus 

 always, no matter when they are displayed ? 



