The Descent of Man

lower animals, namely, the greater or less deficiency
of hair on the body, and the colour of the
skin. We need say nothing about the great diversity
in the shape of the features and of the
skull between the different races, as we have
seen in the last chapter how different is the
standard of beauty in these respects. These characters
will therefore probably have been acted
on through sexual selection; but we have no
means of judging whether they have been acted
on chiefly from the male or female side. The
musical faculties of man have likewise been
already discussed.
ABSENCE OF HAIR ON THE BODY, AND
ITS DEVELOPMENT ON THE FACE AND
HEAD.
From the presence of the woolly hair or lanugo
on the human foetus, and of rudimentary hairs
scattered over the body during maturity, we
may infer that man is descended from some