236 DARWINISM STATED BT DARWIN HIMSELF. 



powerfully on innumerable animals. It can further be 

 shown that the differences between the races of man, as 

 in color, hairiness, form of features, etc., are of a kind 

 which might have been expected to come under the in- 

 fluence of sexual selection. 



STRUGGLE OF THE MALES FOR THE POSSESSIOK OF THE 

 FEMALES. 



Descent There can be no doubt that with almost 



of Man, all animals, in which the sexes are separate, 

 ^^°^ ■ there is a constantly recurrent struggle be- 

 tween the males for the possession of the females. 



Our diflBculty in regard to sexual selection lies in un- 

 derstanding how it is that the males which conquer other 

 males, or those which prove the most attractive to the 

 females, leave a greater number of offspring to inherit 

 their superiority than their beaten and less attractive 

 rivals. Unless this result does follow, the characters 

 which give to certain males an advautage over others 

 could not be perfected and augmented through sexual se- 

 lection. When the sexes exist in exactly equal numbers, 

 the worst-endowed males will (except where polygamy 

 prevails) ultimately find females, and leave as many off- 

 spring, as well fitted for their general habits of life, as 

 the best-endowed males. From various facts and con- 

 siderations, I formerly inferred that with most animals, 

 in which secondary sexual characters are well developed, 

 the males considerably exceeded the females in number ; 

 but this is not by any means always true. If the males 

 were to the females as two to one, or as three to two, or 

 even in a somewhat lower ratio, the whole affair would 

 be simple ; for the better-armed or more attractive males 

 would leave the largest number of offspring. But, after 



