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The Descent of Man

The Descent of Man

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espect amongst well-developed individuals. In<br />

Lethrus, moreover, a beetle belonging to the<br />

same great division <strong>of</strong> the Lamellicorns, the<br />

males are known to fight, but are not provided<br />

with horns, though their mandibles are much<br />

larger than those <strong>of</strong> the female.<br />

<strong>The</strong> conclusion that the horns have been acquired<br />

as ornaments is that which best agrees with<br />

the fact <strong>of</strong> their having been so immensely, yet<br />

not fixedly, developed,—as shewn by their extreme<br />

variability in the same species, and by<br />

their extreme diversity in closely-allied species.<br />

This view will at first appear extremely improbable;<br />

but we shall hereafter find with many<br />

animals standing much higher in the scale, namely<br />

fishes, amphibians, reptiles and birds, that<br />

various kinds <strong>of</strong> crests, knobs, horns and combs<br />

have been developed apparently for this sole<br />

purpose.<br />

[Fig.21. Onitis furcifer, male viewed from beneath.

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