266 THE HISTORY OF CREATION. 
selection which takes place in the propagation of animals. 
In most animals the number of individuals of both sexes is 
unequal; either the number of the female or the number 
of the male individuals is greater, and, as a rule, when 
the season of propagation approaches, a struggle takes 
place between the rivals for the possession of the animals 
of the other sex. It is well known with what vigour and 
vehemence this struggle is fought out among the higher 
animals—among mammals and birds—especially among those 
of polygamous habits. Among gallinaceous birds, where for 
one cock there are several hens, a severe struggle takes place 
between the competing cocks for as large a harem as possible. 
The same is the case with many ruminating animals. 
Among stags and deer, for instance, at the period of rut, 
deadly struggles take place between the males for the 
possession of the females. The secondary sexual character 
which here distinguishes the males—the antlers of stags 
and deer—not possessed by the female, is, according to 
Darwin, the consequence of that struggle. Here the motive 
and cause determining the struggle is not, as in the case of 
the struggle for individual existence, self-preservation, but 
the preservation of the species—propagation. There are 
numerous passive weapons of defence, as well as active 
weapons for attack. The lion’s mane, not possessed by the 
female, is evidently such a weapon of defence; it is an 
excellent means of protection against the bites which the 
male lions try to inflict on each other’s necks when fighting 
for the females ; consequently those males with the strongest 
manes have the greatest advantage in the sexual struggle. 
The dewlap of the ox and the comb of the cock are similar 
defensive weapons. Active weapons of attack, on the other 
