252 BEACH GRASS 



of beauty, might produce a marked effect." 

 Eliot Howard/ on the other hand, believes 

 that display and extravagant bodily antics are 

 merely ''reflex actions directly resulting from 

 any excessive excitement, that they are not con- 

 fined solely to courtship and do not in any way 

 influence the female." The fact that the bril- 

 liantly arrayed male Argus pheasant and the 

 dull-colored Savin's warbler both spread out 

 and raise their wings and tails during courtship 

 seem to Howard a strong argument against sex- 

 ual selection. 



Pycraft " says, "In these pages it is contended 

 that neither brilliant coloration nor any form of 

 ornamentation is to be ascribed to the direct ac- 

 tion of 'sexual selection.' That is to say such 

 conspicuous features have not been dependent on 

 the action of formal choice for their survival 

 and development, but are rather the 'expression 

 points' of the internal, inherent growth variations, 

 which, not being inimical to the welfare of the 

 species, have been free to pursue their develop- 

 ment in any direction which apparent chance 



1 The British Warblers. 



2 Courtship of Animals. 



