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The Descent of Man

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important <strong>of</strong> the two for the welfare <strong>of</strong> the <strong>of</strong>fspring,<br />

must be in some manner protective. But<br />

from the large number <strong>of</strong> fishes, <strong>of</strong> which the<br />

males are either permanently or periodically<br />

brighter than the females, but whose life is not<br />

at all more important for the welfare <strong>of</strong> the species<br />

than that <strong>of</strong> the female, this view can hardly<br />

be maintained. When we treat <strong>of</strong> birds we<br />

shall meet with analogous cases, where there<br />

has been a complete inversion <strong>of</strong> the usual attributes<br />

<strong>of</strong> the two sexes, and we shall then give<br />

what appears to be the probable explanation,<br />

namely, that the males have selected the more<br />

attractive females, instead <strong>of</strong> the latter having<br />

selected, in accordance with the usual rule<br />

throughout the animal kingdom, the more attractive<br />

males.<br />

On the whole we may conclude, that with most<br />

fishes, in which the sexes differ in colour or in<br />

other ornamental characters, the males originally<br />

varied, with their variations transmitted to

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