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Show 240 SEXUAL SELECTION: MAMMALS. PART II. restrial mammals. It is notorious bow desperately malo Roals fight, both with their tooth and cla":s, d~ring the breeding-season ; and their hides are likewise o~ten covered with scars. Male sperm-whales are very Jealous at this season ; and in their battles "they often "lock their jaws together, and turn on their sides ~ud " twist about;" so that it is believed by some naturahsts that the frequently deformed state of their lower jaws is caused by these struggles.2 • • All malo animals which are furnished w1th spec1al weapons for fighting, are well known to euga.ge in :fierce battles. The courage and the desperate coufhcts of stags have often been doscribecl; their skeletons have been found in various parts of tho world, with the horns inextricably locked together, shewing how mi~erab~y the victor and vanquished bad perishecP No ammal m the world is so dangerous as an elephant in must. Lord Tankervme has given me a graphic description of the battles between the wild bulls in Chillingham rark, the descendants, degenerated in size but not in courage, of the gigantic Bos primigenius. In 1861 several contended for rna tery; and it was observed that two of the younger bulls attacked in concert the old leader of the herd, overthrew and disabled him, so that he was believed by the keepers to be lying mortally wounded in a neighbouring wood. But a few days afterwards one of the. young bulls singly approached the wood; and ~ On tho battles of seals, see Capt. C. Abbott in ' Proc. ~ool. Soc.' 1868, p. 191; also Mr. II. Brown, ibid. 1860, p. 136; also L. Lloyd, • Game Birds of Sweden,' 1867, p. 412; also Pennant. On tho spermwhale, sec Mr. J. II. 'fhompson, in' Proc. Zool. Soc.' 1867, p. 2·16. 3 Sec Scrape (' Art of Deer-stalking,' p. 17) on tho locking of th.c horns with the Corvus clcphus. Richardson, in • Fauna Bor. Amcnmma,' 1820, p. 252, sn.ys that tho wnpiti, moose, and rein-deer have been found thns locked together. Sir A. Smith found at the Capo of Good Hope the skeletons of two gnus in the same condition. CIIAP. XVII. LAW OF BATTLE. 241 tJ~ou tho "monarch of tho chase," who had been lashing h.unsolf up for vengeance, came out ancl, in a short time killed his antagonist. He then quietly joined the herd, and long held undisputed sway. Admiral Sir 13. J. Sulivan informs me that when he resided in the Fa~klanc~ Isla?ds he imported a young English stallion, wh.IC~l, with eight mares, frequented the hills near Port \V1lha~. On these hills there were two wild stallions, each With a small troop of mares· "and it is c t · "" th a t th ~se sta1 1w' ns. would never ha' ve approachede re aacihn " othe~ w~t~out :fightmg. ~oth had tr~ecl singly to fight "th? English hor:;e and dnve away his mares, but had ,, f;~Iled. ~ne clay they came in together and attacked ,; hun. This was seen by th~ ?apitan who had charge of "the horses, and .who, on r1dmg to the spot, found one of tho two stallions engaged with the English horse ::whilst the other was driving away the mares, and hacl already separated four from the rest. The capitan '' . ·ottled the matter by driving the whole party into the "corral, for the wild stallions would not leave the "1nares." Male. animals already provided with efficient cutting ?t' tcarmg teeth for the ordinary purposes of life as m t~o carn~vora, insectivora, and rodents, are seldom furnished With weapons especially adapted for :fiO'ht · · tl th · · 1 T o mg "1 I on· nva s. he case is very different with the males of many other animals. We see this in the horns of stags and of certain kinds of antelopes in which tho . females ~re hornless. vVith many animals the canme teeth ~n the upper or lower jaw, or in both, are much l.arger m the males than in the females; or are a~sent m tl~e latter, with the exception sometimes of a hidden rudiment. Certain antelopes, the musk-deer e~me].' horse, boar, various apes, seals, and the wah-us: offer mstances of these several cases. In the females VOL. II. R |