The Descent of Man

paratively passive, generally exerts some choice
and accepts one male in preference to others.
Or she may accept, as appearances would sometimes
lead us to believe, not the male which
is the most attractive to her, but the one which
is the least distasteful. The exertion of some
choice on the part of the female seems a law
almost as general as the eagerness of the male.
We are naturally led to enquire why the male,
in so many and such distinct classes, has become
more eager than the female, so that he searches
for her, and plays the more active part in
courtship. It would be no advantage and some
loss of power if each sex searched for the other;
but why should the male almost always be the
seeker? The ovules of plants after fertilisation
have to be nourished for a time; hence the pollen
is necessarily brought to the female organs—being
placed on the stigma, by means of
insects or the wind, or by the spontaneous movements
of the stamens; and in the Algae, etc.,