"The Courtship of Animals" by W. P. Pycraft. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.
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W. P. Pycraft. The Courtship of Animals
The Courtship of Animals
Table of Contents
PREFACE
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER II “MANKIND IN THE MAKING”
CHAPTER III. MAN’S COUSINS THE APES
CHAPTER IV. AT DAGGERS DRAWN
CHAPTER V. THE LION AND HIS KIN
CHAPTER VI. COURTSHIP AMONG BIRDS
CHAPTER VII. THE SEXUAL SELECTION THEORY AS APPLIED TO BIRDS
CHAPTER VIII. SOME “COLD-BLOODED” LOVERS
CHAPTER IX. LOVE-MAKING AMONG FISHES
CHAPTER X. SOME OF THE “LOWER ORDERS”
CHAPTER XI. BEETLES THAT “BLUFF”
CHAPTER XII. SCORPIONS, SPIDERS AND CRABS
CHAPTER XIII. SOME STRANGE MARRIAGE-CUSTOMS: AND VIRGIN BIRTHS
CHAPTER XIV. PARTHENOGENESIS AND ITS SEQUEL
Отрывок из книги
W. P. Pycraft
Published by Good Press, 2022
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The all-sufficiency of the “Sexual Selection” theory to account for the development of armature, such as horns, antlers, and the huge spine-like outgrowths which form so conspicuous a feature of many of the extinct Land-dragons, or Dinosaurs, has been by no means universally accepted. Some authorities like Dr. A. Smith Woodward and Professor Osborne interpret these after another fashion. They hold that these are the “expression points” of inherent growth forces, a process of concentration marking the final stages of evolution prior to extinction. From which it may be inferred that there is a term to the life of a species as there is to the life of the individual. In many cases it is suggested the very exuberance of growth has been the exterminating factor, as in the case of the huge antlers of the Irish “elk,” whose enormous weapons hampered his endeavours to escape his enemies. This is the theory of “Orthogenesis,” or direct development. According to this, new structures, arising in the germ-plasm as “variations,” will of their own inherent vitality go on increasing in each generation unless, and until, checked by “Natural Selection.” Changes in the character of the “Hormones” might very well bring about these excesses of growth. It is well known that the exuberance of growth which produces giants among the human race is due to a derangement of the secretions or hormones of the pituitary body which largely control growth.
Another factor of Sexual Selection which is commonly ignored, but which is of profound importance, is to be found in the part played by the emotions in regard to sexual relationships; the part which the “mind” has played, and plays, in the mating of animals, at any rate of the higher types.
