THE SEXES, AND CRITICISM OF SEXUAL SELECTION. 1 9 



do in detail, the actively motile, minute, male element of most 

 animals and many plants, with the larger passively quiescent 

 female-cell or ovum. 



It is possible that the reader may urge as a difficulty against 

 the above contrast the exceedingly familiar case of the male 

 bees or "drones." It must be frankly allowed that exceptions 

 do indeed occur, though usually in conditions which afford a 

 key to the abnormality. Thus it will be allowed that the 

 "drones" are in a peculiar position as male members of a very 

 complex society, in which what is practically a third sex is 

 represented by the great body of "workers." They are no 

 more fair examples of the natural average of males, than the 

 hard-driven w4ves of the lazy Kaffir are of the normal functions 

 of women. Nor is the exception even here a real one, for the 

 drone, although passive as compared with the unsexed workers, 

 is active when compared with the extraordinarily passive queen. 



To the above contrast of general habit, two other items 

 may be added, on which accurate observation is still unfortun- 

 ately very restricted. In some cases the body temperature, 

 which is an index to the pitch of the life, is distinctly lower in the 

 females, as has been noted in cases so widely separate as the 

 human species, insects, and plants. In many cases, further- 

 more, the longevity of the females is much greater. Such a 

 fact as that w^omen pay lower insurance premiums than do 

 men, is often popularly accounted for by their greater immunity 

 from accident ; but the greater normal longevity on which the 

 actuary calculates, has, as we begin to see, a far deeper and 

 constitutional explanation. 



§ 3c Size. — Among the higher animals, there are curious 

 alternations in the preponderance of one sex over another in 

 size. Thus among mammals and birds the males are in most 

 cases the larger ; the same is true of lizards ; but in snakes the 

 females preponderate. In fishes, the males are on an average 

 smaller, sometimes very markedly so, even to the extent of not 

 being half as large as their mates. Below the line, among 

 backboneless animals, there is much greater constancy of 

 predominance in favour of the females. Thus among insects, 

 the more active males are generally smaller, and often very 

 markedly; of spiders the same is true, and the males being 

 often very diminutive are forced to task their agility to the 

 utmost in making advances to their unamiable mates. So 

 again, crustacean males are often smaller than the females ; and 



