SEXUAL SELECTION 55 



no an awarder of a prize, but rather a hunted creature. So, 

 ju; as the beast of prey has special instincts for finding his 

 pr 7, the ardent male must have special instincts for subdu- 

 in feminine reluctance, and just as in the beast of prey the 

 ir inct of ravenous pursuit is refined into the various arts 



the chase, so, from such crude efforts at wooing, that 

 c irtship has finally developed in which sexual passion is 

 p -chologically sublimated into love." Groos is very likely 

 c *rect in his belief that the importance of the act of pair- 



1 r has led, through natural selection, to the development 

 coyness in the female, in order that more ardor may be 



icessitated in the male and the act of pairing effectually 



^rformed. This belief, however, does not diminish at all 



le reasons for recognizing that the females do exercise 



loice. This choice is probably not so much a conscious 



hoice between rival males as a choice between accepting 



certain mate and refusing to pair at all with him. But, 



inder this conception, it will be those males which most 



successfully stimulate the sexual instincts of the females 



which will secure mates. It has been observed by Dr. and 



Mrs. Peckham that often a male hunting spider may fail 



to win the female. In observing the courtship of butterflies 



I have found the male unsuccessful after more than an hour 



of pursuit, until finally he has abandoned his quest. There 



seems no doubt that the females of many groups of animals 



do exercise choice, accepting or rejecting certain mates. 



Now observe what is the effect of sexual selection on 

 evolution. Natural selection secures the preservation of 

 characters which help their possessors to survive in the 

 struggle for existence. 1 Sexual selection, on the other hand, 



1 This statement is not quite accurate, as we will see later (page 82), but it will 

 serve for the present use. 



