CHAPTER XIV
PARTHENOGENESIS AND ITS SEQUEL
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 296
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Love-making Frontispiece
Facing page
The Gorilla preparing for hostilities 42
The barometer of maleness—among the Apes 44
Weapons of offence 52
Manchurian Wapiti “calling” 54
Group of Beisa Oryx 60
Eland Cows 64
American Bison 64
Elephants 70
Head of male Wart-hog 72
Male and female Babirusa 72
Somali Zebras 72
Giraffe 72
Californian Sea-lions, or Eared Seals 82
Elephant Seal 88
Northern Elephant Seal 88
“The Peacock in his pride” 96
Peacock Pheasant 96
Patterns which puzzled Darwin 98
The “Strutting Turkey” 100
The display of the Great Bustard 100
Some of Fortune’s favourites 104
The love-making of the Prairie Hen 110
Grades of evolution in the syrinx or organ of voice in the males of Surface-feeding and Diving-ducks 126
Fighting for territory 140
The display of the Grasshopper Warbler 142
The display of the Sun-bittern 142
The Kagu in display 142
A male-Savi’s Warbler 152
Another aspect of the Kagu’s “display” 154
Some strange accompaniments of courtship:
The White-headed Bell-bird 156
The Umbrella-bird 156
Skull of the American white-beaked Pelican 156
Head of a Puffin, showing the moulting of the beak sheath 156
The Satin Bower-bird and its bower 158
The “bower” of the Bower-bird 158
The Bearded Lizard 166
Bright colours which cannot be attributed to “sexual selection” 200
Stridulating organs, etc. 218
Crickets and May-flies 220
Male Astia displaying before the less brilliant female 242
Male Icius displaying 242
Scorpions 252
Death of the male Scorpion 254
The female Mantis devouring her mate 254
The “Fiddler-crab” among mangrove roots 258
The “Fiddler-crab” 258
Some remarkable devices 262
Some remarkable methods of “courtship” 268
THE COURTSHIP OF ANIMALS