Title: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex
Identifier: descentofmansele1874darw (find matches)
Year: 1874 (1870s)
Authors: Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882
Subjects: Evolution; Natural selection; Heredity; Human beings; Sexual selection in animals; Sexual dimorphism (Animals); Sex differences
Publisher: New York : A. L. Burt
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University

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6^^ i'HE DESCENT OF MAN. In the full-grown male Babirusa pig of Celebes (fig. 6 i), the lower tusks are formidable weapons, like those of 1 he European boar in the prime of life^ while the upper tui ks are so long and have their points so much curled inwa^i, sometimes even touching the forehead, that they are utterly, useless as weapons of attack. They more nearly resemble horns than teeth, and are so manifestly useless as teeth that the animal was formerly supposed to rest bis head by hook- ing them on to a branch! Their convex surfaces, however, if the head were held a little laterally, would serve as an
Text Appearing After Image:
Fl^. •?> Head of female Ethiopian wart-ho^, from "Proo. Zool. Soo." 1869. showing the sarae characters as the male, though on a reduced scale. N. B. When the engraving was first made I was under the impression that it represented the male. excellent guardr and hence, perhaps, it is that in olo animals they " are generally broken off, as if by fighting." Here, then, we have the curious case of the upper tusks o:! the Babirusa regularly assuming during the prime of life » structure which apparently renders them fitted only for defense ; while in the European boar the lower tusks assume in a less degree and only during old age nearly the same form, and then serve in like manner solely for defense. In the wart-hog (Pliacoclioeriis cethiopicus) (fig. 67) the *See Mr. Wallace's interesting account of this animal, *'The Malay Archipelago," 1869, vol. i, p. 435.

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