SEXUAL SELECTION 673 



nine teeth than the female; and the mane probably serves 

 aa a protection, for, on asking the keepers in the Zoologi- 

 cal Gardens, without giving them any clew to my object, 

 whether any of the monkeys especially attacked each other 

 by the nape of the neck, I was answered that this was not 

 the case, except with the above baboon. In the Hamadryas 

 baboon, Bhrenberg compares the mane of the adult male to 

 that of a young lion, while in the young of both sexes and 

 in the female the mane is almost absent. 



It appeared to me probable that the immense woolly 

 mane of the male American bison, which reaches almost 

 to the ground, and is much more developed in the males 

 than in the females, served as a protection to them in their 

 terrible battles; but an experienced hunter told Judge Gaton 

 that he had never observed anything which favored this be- 

 lief. The stallion has a thicker and fuller mane than the 

 mare; and I have made particular inquiries of two great 

 trainers and breeders, who have had charge of many entire 

 horses, and am assured that they "invariably endeavor to 

 seize one another by the neck." It does not, however, fol- 

 low, from the foregoing statements, that when the hair on 

 the neck serves as a defence, that it was originally devel- 

 oped for this purpose, though this is probable in some cases, 

 as in that of the lion. I am informed by Mr. McNeill that 

 the long hairs on the throat of the stag (Gervus elaphus) 

 serve as a great protection to him when hunted, for the dogs 

 generally endeavor to seize him by the throat; but it is not 

 probable that these hairs were specially developed for this 

 purpose; otherwise the young and the females would have 

 been equally protected. 



Choice in Pairing by Either Sex of Quadrupeds. — Before 

 describing, in the next chapter, the differences between the 

 sexes in voice, odors emitted, and ornaments, it will be con- 

 venient here to consider whether the sexes exert any choice 

 in their unions. Does the female prefer any particular male, 

 either before or after the males may have fought together for 



