The Making of Species 
allowance must be made for the artificial state in 
which these birds have long been kept,” and 
cites in his favour the case of Mr Cupples’ female 
deerhound that thrice produced puppies, and on 
each occasion showed a marked preference for 
one of the largest and handsomest, but not the 
most eager, of four deerhounds living with her, 
all in the prime of life. 
The question what is it that determines the 
choice of the female is obviously one of con- 
siderable importance, and it was to be expected 
that many zoologists would have conducted 
experiments with a view to deciding it. This 
legitimate expectation has not been realised. 
The matter of sexual selection remains to-day 
practically where Darwin left it. Wallace rejects 
the whole theory, and believes that natural 
selection alone can explain all the phenomena of 
sexual dimorphism. To such an extent does the 
enticing idea of the all-puissance of natural 
selection dominate the minds of scientific men 
that but few of them have paid any attention to 
the question of sexual selection. This neglect 
of the subject affords an example of the baneful 
results of the too-ready acceptance of an enticing 
theory, ‘‘ Natural selection explains everything, 
why then investigate further?” seems to be the 
general attitude of our present-day naturalists. 
Edmund Selous and D. Dewar have made 
some observations on birds, and the Peckhams 
308 
