406 
SEXUAL SELECTION. 
Part in- 
attention of their enemies. But we are concerned 
with the effects of the destruction or preservation of 
certain individuals of either sex, on the character of 
the race. With insects, after the male has fertilised 
the female, and after the latter has laid her eggs, 
the greater or less immunity from danger of either sex 
could not possibly have any effect on the offspring. 
Before the sexes have performed their proper functions, 
if they existed in equal numbers and if they strictly 
paired (all other circumstances being the same), the 
preservation of the males and females would be equally 
important for the existence of the species and for the 
character of the offspring. But with most animals, as 
is known to be the case with the domestic silk-moth, 
the male can fertilise two or three females ; so that the 
destruction of the males would not be so injurious to 
the species as that of the females. On the other hand, 
Dr. Wallace believes that with moths the progeny from 
a second or third fertilisation is apt to be weakly, and 
therefore would not have so good chance of surviving. 
When the males exist in much greater numbers than the 
females, no doubt many males might be destroyed with 
impunity to the species ; but I cannot see that the 
results of ordinary selection for the sake of protection 
would be influenced by the sexes existing in unequal 
numbers ; for the same proportion of the more con- 
spicuous individuals, whether males or females, would 
probably be destroyed. If indeed the males presented 
a greater range of variation in colour, the result would 
be different ; but we need not here follow out such com- 
plex details. On the whole I cannot perceive that an 
inequality in the numbers of the two sexes would in- 
fluence in any marked manner the effects of ordinary 
selection on the character of the offspring. 
Female Lepidoptera require, as Mr. Wallace insists,. 
