CHAPTER LXIV 

 ASSOCIATION OF ORGANISMS COURTSHIP AND MATING 



It is well known that among a number of savage tribes well- 

 developed thews and sinews are an invaluable possession to a 

 young man inclined towards matrimony; he has, in short, to fight 

 for a wife. Among civilized human communities good looks play 

 no unimportant part in the matter, though financial considerations 

 are sometimes said to be paramount. We have, in fact, the Law 

 of Battle and the Law of Beauty, both very clearly enunciated 

 by Darwin in the case of animals, and illustrated by a wealth of 

 fact. The former law is admitted by all to have great influence 

 in many cases in deciding which individuals shall mate together, 

 but Wallace, whose opinion in all zoological matters is entitled 

 to the greatest respect, does not think that ornamental males are 

 preferred as partners by those of the opposite sex. The part of 

 his argument, so far as the human species is concerned, is thus 

 expressed (in Darwinism]'. "A young man, when courting, 

 brushes or curls his hair, and has his moustache, beard, or whiskers 

 in perfect order, and no doubt his sweetheart admires them; but 

 this does not prove that she marries him on account of these 

 ornaments, still less that hair, beard, whiskers, and moustache 

 were developed by the continued preferences of the female sex. 

 So, a girl likes to see her lover well and fashionably dressed, and 

 he always dresses as well as he can when he visits her; but we 

 cannot conclude from this that the whole series of male costumes, 

 from the brilliantly-coloured, puffed, and slashed doublet and hose 

 of the Elizabethan period, through the gorgeous coats, long waist- 

 coats, and pigtails of the early Georgian era, down to the funereal 

 dress-suit of the present day, are the direct result of female 

 preference." One is inclined to believe, however, that an average 

 girl does prefer a good-looking young man, and that female 

 preference has had a directive influence on the evolution of male 



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