purpose specialised means, which, oddly enough, are nearly the same in
some of these cases. Finally we can see that if, on the one hand, those
individual snakes, which were best able to frighten away their enemies,
escaped best from being devoured; and if, on the other hand, those
individuals of the attacking enemy survived in larger numbers which
were the best fitted for the dangerous task of killing and devouring
venomous snakes; then in the one case as in the other, beneficial
variations, supposing the characters in question to vary, would
commonly have been preserved through the survival of the fittest.
_The Drawing back and pressure of the Ears to the Head_. The ears
through their movements are highly expressive in many animals; but in
some, such as man, the higher apes, and many ruminants, they fail in
this respect. A slight difference in position serves to express in the
plainest manner a different state of mind, as we may daily see in the
dog; but we are here concerned only with the ears being drawn closely
backwards and pressed to the head. A savage frame of mind is thus
shown, but only in the case of those animals which fight with their
teeth; and the care which they take to prevent their ears being seized
by their antagonists, accounts for this position. Consequently, through
habit and association, whenever they feel slightly savage, or pretend
in their play to be savage, their ears are drawn back. That this is the
true explanation may be inferred from the relation which exists in very
many animals between their manner of fighting and the retraction of
their ears.
All the Carnivora fight with their canine teeth, and all, as far as I
have observed, draw their ears back when feeling savage. This may be
continually seen with dogs when fighting in earnest, and with puppies
fighting in play. The movement is different from the falling down and
slight drawing back of the ears, when a dog feels pleased and is
caressed by his master. The retraction of the ears may likewise be seen
in kittens fighting together in their play, and in full-grown cats when
really savage, as before illustrated in fig. 9 (p. 58). Although their
ears are thus to a large extent protected, yet they often get much torn
in old male cats during their mutual battles. The same movement is very
striking in tigers, leopards, &c., whilst growling over their food in
menageries. The lynx has remarkably long ears; and their retraction,
when one of these animals is approached in its cage, is very
conspicuous, and is eminently expressive of its savage disposition.
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