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The Descent of Man

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cannot believe that absolutely promiscuous<br />

intercourse prevailed in times past, shortly before<br />

man attained to his present rank in the<br />

zoological scale. <strong>Man</strong>, as I have attempted to<br />

shew, is certainly descended from some apelike<br />

creature. With the existing Quadrumana, as<br />

far as their habits are known, the males <strong>of</strong> some<br />

species are monogamous, but live during only<br />

a part <strong>of</strong> the year with the females: <strong>of</strong> this the<br />

orang seems to afford an instance. Several<br />

kinds, for example some <strong>of</strong> the Indian and<br />

American monkeys, are strictly monogamous,<br />

and associate all the year round with their wives.<br />

Others are polygamous, for example the<br />

gorilla and several American species, and each<br />

family lives separate. Even when this occurs,<br />

the families inhabiting the same district are<br />

probably somewhat social; the chimpanzee, for<br />

instance, is occasionally met with in large<br />

bands. Again, other species are polygamous,<br />

but several males, each with his own females,<br />

live associated in a body, as with several spe-

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