216 Evolution and Adaptation 
male for another set. It sounds a little strange to suppose 
that women have caused the beard of man to develop by se- 
lecting the best-bearded individuals, and the compliment has 
been returned by the males selecting the females that have 
the least amount of beard. It is also assumed that the results 
of the selection are transmitted to one sex only. Unless, in 
fact, the character in question were from the beginning 
peculiar to only one sex as to its inheritance, the two sexes 
might go on forever selecting at cross-purposes, and the result 
would be nothing. 
6. The development, or the presence, of the zsthetic feel- 
ing in the selecting sex is not accounted for on the theory. 
There is just as much need to. explain | why the females are 
gifted with an appreciation of the beautiful, as that the beau- 
tiful colors develop in the males. Shall we assume that still 
another process of selection is ‘going on, as a result of which 
those females are selected by the males that appreciate their 
unusual beauty, or that those females whose taste has soared 
a little higher than that of the average (a variation of this 
sort having appeared) select males to correspond, and thus the 
two continue heaping up the ornaments on one side and the 
appreciation of these ornaments on the other? No doubt an 
interesting fiction could be built up along these lines, but 
would any one believe it, and, if he did, could he prove it ? 
Darwin assumes that the appreciation on the part of the 
female is always present, and he thus simplifies, in appearance, 
the problem, but he leaves half of it unexplained. 
7. It has been pointed out, that it is important to dis- 
tinguish between the possible excitement of the female by 
the display or antics of the male, and the selection of the 
more beautiful or agile performer. Darwin himself records 
a few cases, which plainly show that the more beautiful is 
not always the more successful. It has also been suggested 
that the battles of the males are sometimes sham performances, _ 
and even when they are real, if the less vigorous do not remain 
—— 
