Skip to content
WithinSource
WithinSource

The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex

Page 384 of 825, printed 384

animal is excited. They occur in both sexes, but are best developed when the male arrives at maturity, at which age the middle appendage is sometimes twice as long as the head. Most of the species likewise have a low crest running along the neck; and this is much more developed in the full-grown males than in the females or young males. (67. All the foregoing statements and quotations, in regard to Cophotis, Sitana and Draco, as well as the following facts in regard to Ceratophora and Chamaeleon, are from Dr. Gunther himself, or from his magnificent work on the Reptiles of British India, Ray Soc., 1864, pp. 122, 130, 135.) A Chinese species is said to live in pairs during the spring; and if one is caught, the other falls from the tree to the ground, and allows itself to be captured with impunity I presume from despair. (68. Mr. Swinhoe, Proc. Zoolog. Soc. 1870, p. 240.) [Fig. 34. Ceratophora Stoddartii. Upper figure; lower figure, female.] There are other and much more remarkable differences between the sexes of certain lizards. The male of Ceratophora aspera bears on the extremity of his snout an appendage half as long as the head. It is cylindrical, covered with scales, flexible, and apparently capable of erection: in the female it is quite rudimental. In a second species of the same genus a terminal scale forms a minute horn on the summit of the flexible appendage; and in a third species (C. Stoddartii, fig. 34) the whole appendage is converted into a horn, which is usually of a white colour, but assumes a purplish tint when the animal is excited. In the adult male of this latter species the horn is half an inch in length, but it is of quite minute size in the female and in the young. These appendages, as Dr. Gunther has remarked to me, may be compared with the combs of gallinaceous birds, and apparently serve as ornaments. [Fig. 35. Chamaeleo bifurcus. Upper figure, male; lower figure, female. Fig. 36. Chamaeleo Owenii. Upper figure, male; lower figure, female.] In the genus Chamaeleon we come to the acme of difference between the sexes. The upper part of the skull of the male C. bifurcus (Fig. 35), an inhabitant of Madagascar, is produced into two great, solid, bony projections, covered with scales like the rest of the head; and of this 384
An unhandled error has occurred. Reload

Rejoining the server...

Rejoin failed... trying again in seconds.

Failed to rejoin.
Please retry or reload the page.

The session has been paused by the server.

Failed to resume the session.
Please retry or reload the page.