BY W. P. PYCRAFT OF THE ZOOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM: FELLOW OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON; ASSOCIATE OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY: MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE; MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS’ UNION; HON. MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS’ UNION; ETC., ETC. Author of “A History of Birds,” “The Natural History Museum,” “Pads, Paws and Claws,” “The Infancy of Animals,” etc., etc., etc. With 40 Plates on art paper Containing over 80 Illustrations THIRD EDI

That “one touch of Nature which makes the whole World kin” is surely nowhere more obvious than in the “Courtship” of Animals. For the “Beasts that Perish,” no less than Man himself, are stirred by the same emotions; the Fever of Love runs as high in them as in ourselves; and its modes of expression are not so different, though they may superficially appear to be so. The nature of these differences and their interpretation, it is the purpose of this book to set forth. Charles Darwin laid the foun

The nature of Life and its power of reproduction—The stuff of which Life is made—The Emotions—The simplest living things—Where is neither Birth nor Death yet the Population increases—The First Marriage—The beginning of sex—The two dominating instincts—The conditions of survival—The Oyster’s narrow world—“Fiddling work”—Amorousness—The superior Male—Where Death begins—“Germ-plasm” and what it means—Sex and “Secondary sexual Characters”—Some theories—“Hormones” what are they? The nature of life is

The use of the term “Courtship”—Primitive Man and the Foundations of Society—“Amorousness” as a motive force—Polygamy—Our half human ancestors—Standards of Beauty—Disquieting signs. Our ideas on the subject of the “Courtship” of animals are of necessity largely framed on what has been observed by each of us in regard to our own race; and without any very careful analysis of motives, or thought of what lies behind. But no real insight into this most tremendous subject can be gained which does not

The Man-like Apes and their mode of Life—Their “Courtships”—Musical Chimpanzees—How the Orang-utan improves his voice—His likeness to Caliban—The truculent visage of the Gorilla—“Ornament” in the lower Apes—The Concerts of the Howler Monkeys. We are none of us given to boasting of our poor relations, and most of us indignantly repudiate our kinship with the Apes. But facts are stubborn things: the relationship is there, whether we admit it or not: and those who love truth for truth’s sake will n

The Birth of Weapons—All Flesh is Grass—Utility and Ornament—The Fever of Love—The “Challenge” of the Deer—What it means—More about “Hormones”—“Hummel” Stags—The Age of Deer—The “Courtship” of the Moose—Types of Antlers—Antlered Females—Fighting Topi—The Lance of the Oryx in the Lion’s Flanks—Happiness and Hartebeestes—Odoriferous Suitors—The Bloody Sweat of the Hippopotamus—The Elephant in Love—Concerning Tusks—Polygamy. From Apes to Antelopes is a far cry, but contrasts are always helpful. Ant

A Surprising Relationship—The Lion’s Mane—The Sabre-toothed Tiger—Some Theories about Origins—Sea-lions in Love—Some Strange Ornaments—Whales and Weapons. That the Lion and the Lamb could possibly have been derived from the same stock seems incredible: yet such is the case, though the pedigree is now well-nigh lost in the mists of a hoary antiquity. It is not surprising, then, that in their present-day garb they should show so little in common. Nor is it strange that among their many points of d

Generalities—Darwin v. Wallace—The Peacock in his Pride—The “Display” of the Peacock Pheasant—The Splendour of the Argus Pheasant and the Marvel of its Eyes—The Frill of the Amherst Pheasant—Birds of Paradise in the Toils of Love—Inflated Suitors—Ruffs and Reeves—Fearsome Weapons and their Uses—Birds which dance—Musical Birds—The Bird’s Voice-box—The “Lek” of the Capercaillie—Instruments of Percussion—The Curious Performance of the Wood-pecker. The fact that so little is known about the mammals

Where the Rôle of the Sexes is reversed—Polygamy and how it is brought about—Coloration and Courtship—Instinctive Actions—The Importance of Landed Possessions—The Meaning of “Display”—The Springs of “Behaviour”—A New Light on the Wild-duck—The “Display” of the Great-crested Grebe—Some Neglected Factors. The significance of the varied behaviour of birds—more especially of the males—during the period of reproductive activity must now be more minutely analysed. But before this analysis can be profi

The Courtship of the Crocodile—Amorous Lizards—Horned Chamæleons—A flagellating Terrapin—The Frog that would a-wooing go—Semo musical Frogs—Some marvellous instincts in Newts. The measure of the vitality of animals may be estimated by their response to stimuli; and their behaviour increases in variety and complexity as the nervous system develops. Our interpretation of that behaviour commonly leaves out of account the character of this responsiveness: we are apt to see proof of intelligence in a

Germinal Variations—Fishes and mate—hunting—Some remarkable Sexual differences displayed by the Teeth of Rays—The Double-eyed Fish—The Coloration of the Dragonet—Some curious facts about Salmon—The strange use of the kidneys in the Stickle-back—The Stickle-back and parental duties—Siamese Fighting-fish. Mammals, Birds, Reptiles and Amphibia, as has already been shown, all exhibit practically the same line of conduct in regard to their mate-hunting instincts; all use like modes of expression. And

Butterflies and Moths, and the Coloration of their Wings—Female Choice and “Fine Feathers”—When Male Butterflies are Dominant—Sexual Selection among Butterflies—Abortive Experiments—Wallace and the Sexual Selection Theory—The Sense of Smell in Butterflies and Moths—Fragrant Butterflies—Wingless Moths and their Lures to Lovers—Methods of Pairing among Butterflies and Moths—More Experiments. Not the least impressive feature met with in the study of animal behaviour under the spell of the Sexual In

The Coloration, and other Forms of Ornament in Beetles, and the Significance thereof in regard to the Sexual Selection Theory—The Courtship of Grasshoppers and their Kin—The Remarkable Ears of Locusts and Grasshoppers—The Field-cricket and the Katydid as Troubadours—The Wonderful Performances of the Cicadas—The Duels of Long-horned Locusts—Dragon-flies—The May-flies’ “Dance of Death”—The Jaws of the Giant Alder-fly and their Strange Use—Some Curious Facts about Stone-flies. In these pages it is

Musical Lovers among Spiders and Scorpions—Colour among Spiders, and its uses—The Spiders’ Dance of Death—Spiders and Conjugal Bliss—How Pairing is accomplished—Scorpions in Love—Musical Crabs—Quarrelsome Fiddler-crabs—Crabs and Courtship in the Deep Sea—Amazons among Prawns—Brine-shrimps and Water-fleas—“Natural” v. “Sexual” Selection. It is a curious and significant fact that in the most brilliantly coloured of the Invertebrates—the Butterflies and Moths—” courtship” in the sense of “wooing” i

The Courtship of the Cuttle-fish—The Sumptuous Cradle of the Argonaut—The Love-darts of the Snail—Hermaphrodites and the Dangers of Self-fertilization—Oysters and Beauty—Sex reduced to its Lowest Terms—Parthenogenesis and Virgin Birth—The Story of the Hive-bee—The Departure of the Queen—The New Queen and her Marriage-flight—The Celebration of the Nuptials and its Surprising Sequel—The Widowed Queen turns Executioner—The Queen as Mother—The Queen’s Daughters—Nursemaids’ Duties—Change of Work—The

Courtship among the Ants—The Great Renunciation—Maternity carried to Extremes—Where Males are Superfluous—Degenerate Males—Keeping Death at Bay—Where Females are Unknown. The phenomenon of virgin birth is one of profound mystery. The existence of so astonishing a mode of reproduction was an established belief among the ancients, though they could have had no means of demonstrating the faith that was in them. But these men saw no difficulty in ascribing to the females of their own race this facul

For the first line of page 16, instead of “by certain glands of the ductless glands,” read: “by certain of the ductless glands.”...