290 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



hear from the same entomologist, the sexes often differ in color. 

 The males are generally the brighter, and in Bomtaus as well as in 

 Apathus, much more variable in color than the females. In 

 Anthophora retusa the male is of a rich fulvous-brown, whilst the 

 female is quite black; so are the females of several species of 

 Xylocopa, the males being bright yellow. On the other hand the 

 females of some species, as of Andrsna fulva, are much brighter- 

 colored than the males. Such difterences in color can hardly be 

 accounted for by the males being defenseless and thus requiring 

 protection, whilst the females are well defended by their stings. 

 H. Miiller,™ who has particularly attended to the habits of bees, 

 attributes these differences in color in chief part to sexual selec- 

 tion. That bees have a keen perception of color is certain. He 

 says that the males search eagerly and fight for the possession 

 of the females; and he accounts through such contests for the 

 mandibles of the males being In certain species larger than those 

 of the females. In some cases the males are far more numerous 

 than the females, either early in the season, or at all times and 

 places, or locally; whereas the females in other cases are appar- 

 ently in excess. In some species the more beautiful males appear 

 to have been selected by the females; and in others the more beau- 

 tiful females by the males. Consequently in certain genera (Miil- 

 ler, p. 42), the males of the several species differ much in appear- 

 ance, whilst the females are almost indistinguishable; in other 

 genera, the reverse occurs. H. Mtiller believes (p. 82) that the 

 colors gained by one sex through sexual selection have often been 

 transferred in a variable degree to the other sex, just as the pollen- 

 collecting apparatus of the female has often been transferred to 

 the male, to whom it is absolutely useless."^ 



8" 'Anwenflung der Darwinschen Lehre auf Bienen.' Verb. d. n. 

 Jahrg. xxix. 



"1 M. Perrier in his article 'la Selection sexuelle d'apres Darwin' 

 ('Revue Scientifique,' Feb. 1873. p. S6S), without apparently having- re- 

 flected much on the subject, objects that as the males of social bees 

 are known to be produced from unfertilized ova, they could not trans- 

 mit new characters to their male offspring-. This is an extraordinary 

 objection. A female bee fertilized by a male, which presented some 

 character facilitating the union of the sexes, or rendering him more 

 attractive to the female, would lay eggs which would produce only 

 females; but these young females would next year produce males; 

 and will it be pretended that such males would not inherit the char- 

 acters of their male grandfathers? To take a case with ordinary 

 animals as nearly parallel as possible: if a female of any white 

 quadruped or bird were crossed by a male of a black breed, and the 

 male and female offspring were paired together, will it be pretended 

 that the grandchildren would not inherit a. tendency to blackness 

 from their male grandfather? The acquirement c-f new characters 

 by the sterile worker-bees is a much more difflcult case, but I have 



