Chap. VIII.] SEXUAL SELECTION. 259 



the mare. The wild-boar, in his great tusks and some 

 other characters, presents well-marked sexual characters ; 

 in Europe and in India he leads a solitary life, except dur- 

 inof the breeding-season: but at this season he consorts 

 in India with several females, as Sir W. Elliot, who has 

 had large experience in observing this animal, believes : 

 whether this holds good in Europe is doubtful, but is sup- 

 ported by some statements. The adult male Indian ele- 

 phant, like the boar, passes much of his time in solitude ; 

 but when associating with others, " it is rare to find," as 

 Dr. Campbell states, " more than one male with a whole 

 herd of females." The larger males expel or kill the 

 smaller and weaker oiies. The male differs from the fe- 

 male by his immense tusks and greater size, strength, and 

 endurance ; so great is the difference in these latter re- 

 spects, that the males when caught are valued at twenty 

 per cent, above the females.' With other pachydermatous 

 animals the sexes differ very little or not at all, and they 

 are not, as far as known, polygamists. Hardly a single 

 species among the Cheiroptera and Edentata, or in the 

 great Orders of the Rodents and Insectivora, presents 

 well-developed secondary sexual differences; and I can 

 find no account of any species being polygamous, except- 

 ing, perhaps, the common rat, the males of which, as some 

 rat-catchers affirm, -live with several females. 



The lion in South Africa, as I hear from Sir Andrew 

 Smith, sometimes lives with a single female, but gener- 

 ally with more than one, and, in one case, was found with 

 as many as five females, so that he is polygamous. He is, 

 as far as I can discover, the sole polygaraist in the whole 

 group of the terrestrial Carnivora, and he alone presents 

 well-marked sexual characters. If, however, we turn to 



''Dr. Campbell, in ' Proc. Zoolog. Soc' 1869, p. 138. See also an 

 interesting paper, by Lieut. Johnstone, in 'Proc. Asiatic Soc. of Bengal,' 

 Mav, 1SG8 



