"there seems to be some production of
vividness ... of colour in the male independent of protection." This I
am making a chief point; and have come to your conclusion so far that I
believe that intense colouring in the female sex is often checked by
being dangerous.
That is an excellent remark of yours about no known case of the male
_alone_ assuming protective colours; but in the cases in which
protection has been gained by dull colours, I presume that sexual
selection would interfere with the male losing his beauty. If the male
alone had acquired beauty as a protection, it would be most readily
overlooked, as males are so often more beautiful than their females.
Moreover, I grant that the loss of the male is somewhat less precious
and thus there would be less rigorous selection with the male, so he
would be less likely to be made beautiful through Natural Selection for
protection. (This does not apply to sexual selection, for the greater
the excess of males and the less precious their lives, so much the
better for sexual selection.) But it seems to me a good argument, and
very good if it could be thoroughly established.
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