244 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



bearing on tbis latter point, I may add, that Mr. Powys found 

 in Corfu and Bpirus the sexes of the chaffinch keeping apart, and 

 "the females by far the most numerous;" whilst in Palestine Mr. 

 Tristram found "the male flocks appearing greatly to exceed the 

 "female in number.""' So again with the Quiscalus major, Mr. G. 

 Taylor'^ says, that in Florida there were "very few females in 

 "proportion to the males," whilst in Honduras the proportion was 

 the other way, the species there having the character of a polyg- 

 amist. 



FISH. 



With Fish the proportional numbers of the sexes can be ascer- 

 tained only by catching them in the adult or nearly adult state; 

 and there are many difficulties in arriving at any just conclu- 

 sion."' Infertile females might readily be mistaken for males, 

 as Dr. Giinther has remarked to me in regard to trout. With some 

 species the males are believed to die soon after fertilizing the 

 ova. With many species the males are of much smaller size than 

 the females, so that a large number of males would escape from 

 the same net by which the females were caught. M. Carbonnier," 

 who has especially attended to the natural history of the pike 

 (Bsox lucius), states that many males, owing to their small size, 

 are devoured by the larger females; and he. believes that the 

 males of almost all fish are exposed from this same cause to 

 greater danger than the females. Nevertheless, in the few cases 

 in which the proportional numbers have been actually observed, 

 the males appear to be largely in excess. Thus Mr. R. Buist, the 

 superintendent of the Stormontfield experiments, says that in 

 1865 out of 70 salmon first landed for the purpose of obtaining 

 the ova, upwards of 60 were males. In 1867 he again "calls atten- 

 "tion to the vast disproportion of the males to the females. We 

 "had at the outset at least ten males to one female." Afterwards 

 females sufficient for obtaining ova were procured. He adds, 

 "from the great proportion of the males, they are constantly 

 "fighting and tearing each other on the spawning-beds, "'' This 

 disproportion, no doubt, can be accounted for in part, but whether 

 wholly is doubtful, by the males ascending the rivers before the 

 females. Mr. F. Buckland remarks in regard to trout, that "it is 



»' 'Ibis,' 1860, p. 137; and 1867, p. 369. 



»8 'Ibis,' 1862, p. 137. 



™ Leuckart quotes Bloch (Wagner, 'Handworterbuch der Phys.' B. 

 Iv. 1853, 3. 775), that with fish there are twice as many males as 

 females. 



™ Quoted in the 'Farmer,' March 18, 1869, p. 369. 



" 'The Stormontfleld Piscicultural Experiments,' 1866, p. 23. The 

 'Field' newspaper, June 29th, 1867. 



