124 PECKHAM. [Vol. 1, 



the wliole roundation of his theory that the more brilliant and 

 intense color of the male is due to his greater vigor and 

 activity, and higher vitality. This proposition is a complex 

 one, holding within it three implications which must be proved 

 before its acceptance can be demanded — first, that male animals 

 have higher vitality, than females ; second, that those males 

 that have the highest vitalitj^ have also the most brilliant and 

 intense colors ; and third, that the superior ornamentation of 

 these males is due to their activity. 



FIRST PART : RELATIVE A'lTALITY OP MALES AND FEMALES. 



Mr. Wallace does not say, in so many words, that males 

 have higher vitality than females ; he assumes this to be so 

 universally acknowledged as to need no proof. Thus he says : 

 " The very frequent superiority of the male bird or insect in 

 brightness or intensity of color, even when the general colora- 

 tion is the same in both sexes, now seems to me to be, primarily, 

 due to the greater vigor and activity and the higher vitality 

 of the male." * And again : " The more vivid colors and 

 more developed plumage of the males, I am now inclined to 

 think, may be wholly due to their greater vital energy." f In 

 view of the fact that a contrary opinion has been generally 

 held (Darwin, in " Origin of Species," says that the 

 vitality of the two sexes is probably about equal), we 

 object to the assumption of Mr. Wallace, and shall endeavor to 

 show that in all probability the female, at least among birds and 

 spiders, has as high vitality as the male. 



Before we can discuss this point we must ask, What are the 

 criteria of high vitality? 



Mr. Pocock, in a review of our former paper on this sub- 

 ject, objects to our using activity and pugnacity as the only 

 tests of vitality. As a matter of fact, these are the only ones 

 put forward by Mr. Wallace; and, so far as the question is one 

 of relative vitality among males, we are unable to suggest any 

 that are better. When it comes to determining the relative 

 vitality of males and females, we must also take into account the 



^Tropical Xatiiri', |». 1'.'.'. 

 t mill., p. 21:; 



