192 Evolution.and Adaptation 
A few cases are cited in which it has been observed that 
the males appear to exhibit themselves before the females, as 
in the following case of the Chinese Macropus :— 
“The males are most beautifully colored, more so than the 
females. During the breeding season they contend for the 
possession of the females; and, in the act of courtship, ex- 
pand their fins, which are spotted and ornamented with 
brightly colored rays, in the same manner, according to M. 
Carbonnier, as the peacock. They then also bound about 
the females with much vivacity, and appear by ‘l’étalage de 
leurs vives couleurs chercher a attirer l’attention des femelles, 
lesquelles ne paraissaient indifférentes 4 ce manége, elles 
nageaient avec une molle lenteur vers les males et semblaient 
se complaire dans leur voisinage.’ ”’ 
In this connection Darwin makes the following general 
statement : — 
“The males sedulously court the females, and in one case, 
as we have seen, take pains in displaying their beauty before 
them. Can it be believed that they would thus act to no 
purpose during their courtship? And this would be the case, 
unless the females exert some choice and select those males 
which please or excite them most. If the female exerts such 
choice, all the above facts on the ornamentation of the males 
become at once intelligible by the aid of sexual selection.” 
While it may readily be granted that display of the male 
may have for its purpose the excitement of the female, it is 
another question as to whether she will be more excited by 
the more beautiful suitor. The attentions of the male may 
be supposed to have a purpose, even if the female does not 
choose the more beautiful of her suitors. It is this last prop- 
osition, so necessary for the theory of sexual selection, that 
seems improbable. But even if it were probable, there are, 
as we shall see, other difficulties to be overcome before we 
should be justified in accepting Darwin’s statement quoted 
above, concerning the results of sexual selection. 
