SEXUAL SELECTION IN RELATION TO MAN 111 



of the hair in the different races; in the negro the hair 

 forms a mere curly mat; with us it is of great length, and 

 with the American natives it not rarely reaches to the 

 ground. Some species of Semnopithecas have their heads 

 covered with moderately long hair, and this probably serves 

 as an ornament and was acquired through sexual selection. 

 The same view/ may perhaps be extended to mankind, for 

 we know that long tresses are now, and were formerly, 

 much admired!, as may be observed in the works of almost 

 every poet. St. Paul says, "if a woman have long hair, it 

 iij, a glory to ner"; and we have seen that in North America 

 a chief was elected solely from the length of his hair. 



ual; 

 djft( 



Color Off the Shin. — The best kind of evidence that in 

 man t^i^color of the skin has been modified through sex- 

 uaL^lection is scanty ; for in most races the sexes do not 

 dJHer in this respect, and only slightly, as we have seen, 

 in others. We know, however, from the many facts already 

 given, that the color of the skin is regarded by the men of 

 all races as a highly important element in their beauty; 

 so that it is a character which would be likely to have been 

 modified through selection, as has occurred in innumerable 

 instances with the lower animals. It seems at first sight a 

 monstrous supposition that the jet-blackness of the negro 

 should have been gained through sexual selection ; but this 

 view is supported by various analogies, and we know that 

 negroes admire their own color. With mammals, when the 

 sexes differ in color, the male is often black or much darker 

 than the female; and it depends merely on the form of 

 inheritance whether this or any other tint is transmitted 

 to both sexes or to one alone. The resemblance to a negro 

 in miniature of Pithecia . satanas, with his jet-black skin, 

 white rolling eyeballs, and hair parted on the top of the 

 head, is almost ludicrous. 



The color of the face differs much more widely in the 

 varioQS kinds of monkeys than it does in the races of man; 

 and we have some reason to believe that the red, blue, 



