The Descent of Man

elieves that the difference between the sexes is
due not so much to the males having been modified,
as to the females having in all or almost
all cases acquired dull colours for the sake of
protection. It seems to me, on the contrary, far
more probable that it is the males which have
been chiefly modified through sexual selection,
the females having been comparatively little
changed. We can thus understand how it is that
the females of allied species generally resemble
one another so much more closely than do the
males. They thus shew us approximately the
primordial colouring of the parent-species of
the group to which they belong. They have,
however, almost always been somewhat modified
by the transfer to them of some of the successive
variations, through the accumulation of
which the males were rendered beautiful. But I
do not wish to deny that the females alone of
some species may have been specially modified
for protection. In most cases the males and females
of distinct species will have been expo-