828 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



proportion was the other way, the species there having the 

 character of a polygamist. 



Fish. — With Fish the proportional numbers of the sexes 

 can be ascertained only by catching them in the adult or 

 nearly adult state ; and there are many difficulties in arriving 

 at any just conclusion." ' Infertile females might readily 

 be mistaken for males, as Dr. Griinther has remarked to me 

 in regard to trout. With some species the males are believed 

 to die soon after fertilizing the ova. With many species the 

 males are of much smaller size than the females, so that a 

 large number of males would escape from the same net by 

 which the females were caught. M. Carbonnier, " who has 

 especially attended to the natural history of the pike {JEsox 

 lucius), states that many males, owing to their small size, 

 are devoured by the larger females; and he believes that 

 the males of almost all iish are exposed from this same 

 cause to greater danger than the females. Nevertheless, in 

 the few cases in which the proportional numbers have been 

 actually observed, the males appear to be largely in excess. 

 Thus Mr. E. Buist, the superintendent of the Stormontfield 

 experiments, says that in 1865, out of 70 salmon first landed 

 for the purpose of obtaining the ova, upward of 60 were 

 males. In 1867 he again "calls attention to the vast dispro- 

 portion ef the males to the females. We had at the outset 

 at least ten males to one female. ' ' Afterward females suffi- 

 cient for obtaining ova were procured. He adds, "from the 

 great proportion of the males, they are constantly fighting 

 and tearing each other on the spawning-beds. ' ' " This dis- 

 proportion, no doubt, can be accounted for in part, but 

 whether wholly is doubtful, by the males ascending the 

 rivers before the females. Mr. F. Buckland remarks m 

 regard to trout, that "it is a curious fact that the males 



^' Leuokart quotes Blooh (Wagner, "Handworterbuoh der Phys.," B. iv., 

 1853, s. '!'!5), that with fish there are twice as many males as females. 



™ Quoted in the "Farmer," March 18, 1869, p. 369. 



" "The Stormontfield Piscicultural Experiments," 1866, p. 23. The "Meld" 

 newspaper, June 29, 1867. 



