150 PECKHAM. [Vol. 1, 



Mr. Wallace argues, that 'the effect of female preference will be 

 neutralized by Natural Selection.' It must be remembered 

 that such preferences can only decide between males which 

 have already successfully run the gauntlet of by far the 

 greatest dangers which beset the higher animals, the dangers 

 of youth. Natural Selection has already pronounced a satis- 

 factory verdict upon the vast majority of animals which have 

 reached maturity. The male which has only just passed this 

 test, and is nevertheless accepted because of some superior 

 attraction, will soon succumb and will leave far less offspring 

 than one of equal or perhaps inferior attractions, which is 

 fitted to live for the natural term of its life. Furthermore, 

 the offspring of the former will stand a greater chance of 

 failure than those of the latter. Natural Selection is a qualify- 

 ing examination which must be passed by all candidates for 

 honors :. Sexual Selection is an honors examination in 

 which many who have passed the previous examination will 

 be rejected. But the conditions for qualifying are more rigid 

 than in any existing system ; for the candidates who have 

 barely qualified, or have qualified by some piece of luck, or 

 have failed to keep up the necessary standard in afterlife, will 

 in the end be excluded from the advantages of any honors 

 they may have gained. Mr. Wallace states that 'the action of 

 Natural Selection does not indeed disprove the existence of 

 female selection of ornament as ornament, but it renders it 

 entirely ineffective.' This opinion can hardly be maintained 

 if we believe that such preferences lead to the failure, com- 

 parative or complete, of the plainer or less graceful males, 

 although the equal in other respects of their more successful 

 rivals. Each of these two processes will check the other: 

 Natural Selection will ensure that the males which succeed 

 because of their beauty are among the fittest ; Sexual Selection 

 will ensure that the males which succeed on account of their 

 'fitness' are among the most beautiful." 



Mr. Wallace's theory, then, rests on a number of unproved 

 propositions, and since one depends on the other the argument 



