2999] Recent Literature. 757 
breeding season. Tne reindeer, where the horns occur on the female - 
as well, is an interesting exception to the rule, for after castration 
the male still renews the growth. This, however, merely indicates 
that the originally sexual characters have become organized into the 
general life of the body. In sheep, antelopes, oxen, etc., castration 
modifies or reduces the horns; and the same is true of odoriferous 
glands. The parasitic Crustacean Sacculina has been shown by 
Delage to effect a partial castration of the crabs to which it fixes itself, 
and the same has been observed by Giard in other cases. In two such 
cases an approximation to the female form of appendage has been ob- 
served. Lastly, in aged females, which have ceased to be functional 
in reproduction, the minor peculiarities of their sex often disappear, 
and they become liker males, both in structure and habits,—witness 
the familiar case of ‘ crowing hens.’ 
** From the presupposition, then, of the intimate connection between 
the sexuality and the secondary characters (which is indeed every- 
where allowed), it is possible to advance a step further. Thus in re- 
gard to color, that the male is usually brighter than the female is an 
acknowledged fact. But pigments of many kinds are physiologically 
regarded as of the nature of waste products. Such, for instance, is 
the guanin, so abundant on the skin of fishes and some other animals. 
Abundance of such pigments, and richness of variety in related series, 
point to preéminent activity of chemical processes in the animals that 
possess them. ‘Technically expressed, abundant pigments are ex- 
pressions of intense metabolism. But predominant activity has been 
already seen to be characteristic of the male sex ; these bright colors, 
then, are often natural to maleness. In a literal sense animals put on 
beauty for ashes, and the males more so because they are males, and 
not primarily for any other reason whatever. 
«We are well aware that, in spite of the researches of Krukenberg, 
Sorby, MacMunn, and others, our knowledge of the pigments is still 
very scanty. Yet in many cases, alike among plants and animals, pig- 
ments are expressions of disruptive processes, and are of the nature of 
waste products, and this general fact is at present sufficient for our 
contention, that bright coloring or rich pigmenting is commonly a 
tural expression of the male constitution. For the red pigment so 
abundant in tre female cochineal insect, which appears to be of the 
nature of a reserve and not a waste product, and for similar occur- 
rences, due exception must be made. 
“In the same way, the skin-eruptions of male fishes at the spawning 
eason seem more pathological than decorative, and may be directly 
s : 
