BEAKDS. 597 



of many species, but in some, either confined to the males, or 

 more developed in them than in the females. From this fact and 

 from the curious arrangement, as well as the bright colors of the 

 hair about the heads of many monkeys, it is highly probable, as 

 before explained, that the males first acquired their beards 

 through sexual selection as an ornament, transmitting them in 

 most cases, equally or nearly so, to their offspring of both sexes. 

 We know from Bschricht== that with mankind, the female as well 

 as the male fcetua is furnished with much hair on the face, espe- 

 cially round the mouth; and this indicates that we are descended 

 from progenitors, of whom both sexes were bearded. It appears 

 therefore ai, first sight probable than man has retained his beard 

 from a very early period, whilst woman lost her beard at the 

 same time that her body became almost completely divested of 

 hair. Even the color of our beards seems to have been inherited 

 from an ape-like progenitor; for when there is any difference in 

 tint between the hair of the head and the beard, the latter is 

 lighter colored in all monkeys and in man. In those Quadrumana 

 in which the male has a larger beard than that of the female, it 

 is fully developed only at maturity, just as with mankind; and 

 it is possible that only the later stages of development have been 

 retained by man. In opposition to this view of the retention cf 

 the beard from an early period, is the fact of its great variability 

 in different races, and even within the same race; for this indi- 

 cates reversion, — long lost characters being very apt to vary on 

 reappearance. 



Nor must we overlook the part which sexual selection may 

 have played in later times; for we know that with savages, the 

 men of the beardless races take infinite pains in eradicating every 

 hair from their faces as something odious, whilst the men of 

 the bearded races feel the greatest pride in their beards. The 

 women, no doubt, participate in these feelings, and if so sexual 

 selection can hardly have failed to have effected something in the 

 course of later times. It is also possible that the long-continued 

 habit of eradicating the hair may have produced an inherited 

 effect. Dr. Brown-S6quard has shown that if certain animals are 

 operated on in a particular manner, their offspring are affected. 

 Further evidence could be given of the inheritance of the effects 

 of mutilations; but a fact lately ascertained by Mr. Salvin^ has 

 a more direct bearing on the present question; for he has shown 

 that the motmots, which are known habitually to bite off the barbs 

 of the two central tail-feathers, have the barbs of these feathers 



2s 'Ueber die Richtung der Haare am Menschlichen Korper," in Mul- 

 ler's 'Archiv fur Anat. und Phys.' 1837, s. 40. 



2« 'On the tail-feathers of Momotus' 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' 1873, p. 429. 



39 



