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Show 262' SEXUAL SELECTION: Ml\1\IMALS. PART II. " bitches both in weight and size. At birth, and for " several weeks afterwards, a bitch-puppy will occa-" sionally be larger than any of the clogs, but tb~y are "invariably beaten by them later." Mr. MeN c1ll, ?f Colinsay, concludes that "the males do not attam " their full growth till over two years old, though " the females attain it sooner." According to Mr. Cupples' experience, male dogs go on growing in stature till they are from twelve to eighteen monthsold, and in weio-ht till from eighteen to twenty-four b • • . months old; whil t the females cease mcreasmg m stature at the ao-e of from nine to fourteen or fifteen months and in °weio-ht at the age of from twelve to ' b . fifteen months. From these various statements it is clear that tho full difference in size between the male and female Scotch deer-hound is not acquired until rather late in life. The males are almost exclusively used for coursing, for, as Mr. McNeill informs me, tho females have not sufficient strength and weight to pull down a full-grown deer. From the names used in old legends, it appears, as I hoar from Mr. Cupples,. that at a very ancient period the males were the most celebrated, the females being mentioned only as tho mothers of famous dogs. lienee during many generations, it is the male which has been chiefly tested for strength, size, speed, and courage, and the best will have been bred from. As, howeve1·, the males do not attain their full dimensions until a rather ]ate period in life, they wm have tended, in accm ·dauce with the law often indicated, to transmit their characters to their male off.gpring alone ; and thus the great inequality in size between the sexes. of the Scotch deer-hound may probably be accounted for. The males of some few quadrupeds possess organs ot CHAP. XVII. MEANS OF DEFENCE. 263 parts developed solely as a means of defence against the attacks of other males. Some kinds of deer use as we have seen, the upper Lranches of their horn~ chiefly or exclusively for defending themselves; aml the Oryx antelope, as I am informed by Mr. Bartlett fences most sk~lfull! with his long, gently curved horns; but these are hkew1se used as organs of offence. R.hinoceroses, as the same observer remarks, in :fightinopar. ry each other's sidelong blows with their horn;, whwh loudly clatter together, as do the tusks of boars. A~~10ugh wildd' boars :fight desperately together, they se om, accor mg to Brehm, receive fatal blows, as th?se fall. on eac~ other's tusks, or on the layer of gnstly skm covermg the shoulder, which the German hunters c~ll the shield; and here we have a part specially modified for defence. With boars in the prime of life (see :fig. 63) the tusks in the lower jaw are used for :fighting but they become in old age, as Brehm states, so much curved inwards and upwards, over the snout, that they can no longer be thus used. They may, however, still continue to serve, and even in Fig. 63. llcnd of common wild bOUI', in prime of life (from Brehm). a still more effective manner, as a means of defence. In compensation for ~be loss of th~ lower ~usks as weapons of offence, those m the upper Jaw, whwh always project a little laterally, increase so much in length during old age, and curve so much upwards, that they can be used as a means of attack. Nevertheless an old Loar is not so |