And now I want to ask a question. When female butterflies are more
brilliant than their males, you believe that they have in most cases, or
in all cases, been rendered brilliant so as to mimic some other species
and thus escape danger. But can you account for the males not having
been rendered equally brilliant and equally protected? Although it may
be most for the welfare of the species that the female should be
protected, yet it would be some advantage, certainly no disadvantage,
for the unfortunate male to enjoy an equal immunity from danger. For my
part, I should say that the female alone had happened to vary in the
right manner, and that the beneficial variations had been transmitted to
the same sex alone. Believing in this, I can see no improbability (but
from analogy of domestic animals a strong probability): the variations
leading to beauty must _often_ have occurred in the males alone, and
been transmitted to that sex alone. Thus I should account in many cases
for the greater beauty of the male over the female, without the need of
the protective principle.
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