514 The Descent of Man. Tart 11. 



tiger to the ground and, in consequence, is dangerous to the 

 rider, who is liable to be jerked oft' the howdah.'" 



Very few male quadrupeds possess weapons of two distinct 

 kinds specially adapted for fighting with rival males. The male 

 muntjac-deer (Cervulus), however, offers an exception, as he ii> 

 provided Tith horns and exserted canine teeth. But we ma.r 

 infer from what follows that one form of weajjon has cftesi 

 been replaced in the course of ages by another. With ruminants 

 the development of horns generally stands in an inverse relation 

 with that of even moderately developed canine teeth. Thue 

 camels, guanacoes, chevrotains, and music-deer, are hornless, 

 and they have eflScient canines; these teeth being "always- of 

 " smaller size in the females than in the males." The Camelidse 

 have, in addition to their true canines, a pair of canine-shaped 

 incisors in their upper jaws."' Male deer and antelopes, on the 

 other hand, possess horns, and they rarely have canine teeth; 

 and these, when present, are always of small size, so that it is 

 doubtful whether they are of any service in their battles. In 

 Antilo]ie monfana they exist only as rudiments in the young 

 male, disappearing as he grows old ; and they are absent in the 

 female at all ages ; but the females of certain other antelopes 

 and of certain deer have been known occasionally to exhibit 

 rudiments of these teeth.''^ Stallions have small. canine teetli, 

 which are either quite absent or rudimentary in the mare ; but 

 they do not appear to be used in fighting, for .stallions bite 

 with their incisors, and do not open their mouths wide like 

 camels and guanacoes. "Whenever the adult male possesses 

 canines, now inefficient, whilst the female has either none or 

 mere rudiments, we may conclude that the early male pro- 

 genitor of the species was provided with eflicient canines, Which 

 have been partially transferred to the females. The reduction of 

 these teeth in the males seems to have followed from some 

 change in their manner of fighting, often (but not in the horse) 

 caused by the development of new weapons. 

 Tusks and horns are manifestly of high importance to their 



*• S2v3 i-sj Corse (* Philosoph. Amei'ican deer. See also Falconer 



Iransact. 1799, p. 212) on the (' Palscont. Memoirs and Notes,' 



uauner in which the short-tnsked vol. i. 1868, p. 576) on canines in 



Mookuah variety attacks other ele- an adult female deer. In old males 



'pliauts, of the musk-deer the canines (Pallas, 



" Owan, 'Anatomy of Verte- 'Spic. Zoolog.' fasc. xii>.. 1779, p. 



Iirates,' vol. liL p. 349. 18) sometimes grow to the length 



" Si'e Riipj«ll (in 'Proc. Zoolog. of three inches, whilst in old females 



Soc' Jan. 12, 1836, p. 3) on the a ndiment projects scarcelv halt 



3anine8 in deer and antelopes, with nn inch above thti gums, 

 a Dol* by Ml-. Martin on a icmale 



