144 PECKHAM. [Vol. 1, 



substitute conspicuousness* for beauty, might help to make the 

 matter clearer ; but wheu Darwin spoke of sexual selection as 

 the cause of these modifications (and we do not doubt that Mr. 

 Poulton so understands it) he attributed to the female only a 

 low kind of pleasure when she saw the color which she connected 

 with the male of her own species, or was pleased by the song 

 of one bird more than by that of another; just about the 

 amount of pleasure that insects have in visiting flowers. It 

 seems to us that in this review far too much stress is laid 

 upon the term esthetic, implying that so high a faculty is 

 inconceivable in these low organisms. Mr. Wallace, himself, 

 admits as highly probable that the female is "pleased or 

 excited" by the display, and this pleasure or excitement is a 

 fair definition of what Mr. Poulton means by his aesthetic sense. 



While Mr. Wallace is very loath to admit the existence of 

 emotional states in the female he is by no means so in the case 

 of the male. On the question of the state of consciousness of 

 the males during courtship he speaks of the display "under the 

 influence of jealousy or sexual excitement. * =^ * * xhe 

 males, in their rivalry with each other, ivould see what plumes 

 were most effective ; and each would endeavor to excel his enemy as 

 far as voluntary exertion would enable him." f If the males 

 have so complex an emotion as jealously, and further, if they 

 are conscious of the value of the plumes, may it not be asked 

 why the female is unable to " see what plumes are most effec- 

 tive?" The mental state in the male is without meaning 

 unless we suppose the female to be affected and pleased. 

 MR. Wallace's objections to darwin's theory. 



Mr. Wallace, besides suggesting a substitute for the theory 

 of female selection, has criticised, with much ingenuity, the 

 arguments that have been offered in its support. His most 

 important objection is that there is little or no evidence that 

 the female pays any attention to the antics of the male, and 

 that there is positively no evidence that she is influenced in her 

 choice of any male by his color or ornaments. In regard to the 



* Color Sense, p. 157. 



f Tropical Nature, p. 210. The italics are oury. 



