THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 211.— July, 1894. 



THE ORIGIN AND PURPOSE OF THE HORNS AND 

 ANTLERS OF RUMINANTS. 



By Allan Gordon Cameron. 



I. Introductory. 



In the second part of Darwin's great work upon the ' Descent 

 of Man' (chap, xvii.), the frontal weapons of ruminants, whether 

 horns or antlers, are derived from the principle of sexual selection 

 as the result of male struggle and combat for the possession of 

 the female. This view has been generally accepted by naturalists, 

 and seriously questioned, so far as I am aware, by no authoritative 

 writer on the subject. The law of battle, leading to superior 

 calibre, and the power of charm, leading to superior ornament, 

 seem to admit of particularly forcible application to the cranial 

 armature of those polygamous and herding animals whose sexual 

 combats are so determined, and whose weapons of war are so 

 conspicuously ornamental. Dr. Wallace, who refuses for the 

 most part to recognise a vera causa in Darwin's brilliant hypo- 

 thesis, concedes and restricts its application to the subject under 

 discussion ; while Dr. Eomanes, writing from Darwin's stand- 

 point, affirms that in "arborescent antlers" we have phenomena 

 which can be explained only by sexual selection " if they are to 

 be explained at all." 



It was wisely said by Jevons that almost every problem in 

 science takes the form of a balance of probabilities ; but a new 



ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XVIII, JULY, 1894. U 



