* 
1891.] Polygamy Among the Pinnipedia. 109 
affairs among the sea lions, of which the fur seal (Ca//orhinus 
ursinus) is the best example. 
The above hypothetical history of events will serve to convey 
the writer’s opinion as to what may have been the stages by 
which polygamy has arisen and become intensified among the 
Pinnipedia. For the sake of the non-scientific reader, it may be 
well to say that there is no intention to convey the idea that the 
fur seal was first a walrus, then a seal, and finally evolved into a 
sea lion or fur seal. 
Two other points deserve mention in connection with this 
highly interesting animal. ; 
The question naturally arises, Why do not the females in- 
‘crease in size by inheriting the increased bulk of the male? 
There are few more interesting and perplexing laws than those 
of inheritance, and among these one of the most elusive is*the 
inheritance of certain characteristics by one sex alone. Darwin 
attempts to explain these facts by the hypothesis of pangenesis,— 
a theory which seems to have few, if any, supporters at present. 
Whatever may be the cause of the transmission of certain char- 
acters to one sex only, there are two facts that may help us to. 
understand the disparity between the sexes of the fur seals: 
Ist, The great size of the male is purely a secondary sexual 
character, and as such would not be expected to be inherited by 
the female, whatever may be the reason or an ultimately found 
to explain the fact. 
2d, Small size is of direct advantage to the female in this case, 
and hence a watural selection? would tend to intensify this fea- 
ture, or what is practically the same thing, to keep the females 
from sharing in the increased size of the males. 
The advantage referred to arises from the manner in which the 
females are handled by the males upon the landing of the for- 
mer, which is described as follows by Elliott: 
“The little cows have a rough-and-tumble time of it when they 
® The selection here spoken of can hardly be termed a sexual selection, as the advan- 
tage accrues directly to the mother, and does not have the direct and exclusive bearing 
upon the reproductive act which is the essence of sexual selection. It is, of course, 
true that one sex alone is affected; but this fact alone is not sufficient to stamp it as 
Sexual selection as set forth by Darwin. 
