The Descent of Man

een developed by small steps into the wonderful
ball-and-socket ornaments; and it is probable
that they were actually thus developed.
Everyone who admits the principle of evolution,
and yet feels great difficulty in admitting
that female mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish,
could have acquired the high taste implied by
the beauty of the males, and which generally
coincides with our own standard, should reflect
that the nerve-cells of the brain in the highest as
well as in the lowest members of the Vertebrate
series, are derived from those of the common
progenitor of this great Kingdom. For we can
thus see how it has come to pass that certain
mental faculties, in various and widely distinct
groups of animals, have been developed in
nearly the same manner and to nearly the same
degree.
The reader who has taken the trouble to go
through the several chapters devoted to sexual
selection, will be able to judge how far the con-