PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE 



CHAPTER IV 



SEXUAL DIMORPHISM 



I. Invertebrates: formation of the male. Primitivity 

 of the female. Minuscule males: the bonellie. Re- 

 gression of the male into the male organ: the cirri- 

 pedes. Generality of sexual dimorphism. Superior- 

 ity of the female in most insect species. Exceptions. 

 Numeric dimorphism. Female hymenoptera. Multi- 

 plicity of her activities. Male's purely sexual role. 

 Dimorphism of ants and termites. Grasshoppers and 

 crickets. Spiders. Coleoptera. Glow-worm. Cochi- 

 neal's strange dimorphism. 



i. INVERTEBRATES. At a moment fairly undecided in 

 the general evolution the male organ specializes into the 

 male individual. Religious symbolisms may or might 

 have been intended to mean this. The female is primi- 

 tive. At the third month, the human embryo has ex- 

 ternal uro-genital organs clearly resembling the female 

 organs. To arrive at complete female estate they need 

 undergo but a very slight modification; to become male 

 they have to undergo a considerable and very complex 

 transformation. The external genital organs of the 

 female are not, as has been often said, the product of 

 an arrested development; quite the contrary, the male 

 organs undergo a supplementary development, which is 



