We  are  naturally  led  to  inquire  why  the  male,  in  so
many  and  such  distinct  classes,  has  become  more  eager
than  the  female,  so  that  he  searches  for  her  and  plays
the  more  active  part  in  courtship.  It  would  be  no
advantage  and  some  loss  of  power  if  each  sex  searched
for  the  other;  but  why  should  the  male  almost  always  be
the  seeker?  The  ovules  of  plants  after  fertilization  have
to  be  nourished  for  a  time;  hence  the  pollen  is  necessarily
brought  to  the  female  organs — being  placed  on  the  stigma,
by  means  of  insects  or  the  wind,  or  by  the  spontaneous
movements  of  the  stamens;  and  in  the  Algae,  etc.,  by  the
locomotive  power  of  the  antherozooids.  With  lowly-organ-
ized aquatic  animals,  permanently  affixed  to  the  same  spot
and  having  their  sexes  separate,  the  male  element  is  invari-
ably brought   to  the   female;  and  of  this  we  can  see  the

*  One  parasitic  Hymenopterous  insect  (Westwood,  "  Modem  Class,
of  Insects,"  vol.  ii,  p.  160)  forms  an  exception  to  the  rule,  as  the
male  has  rudimentary  wings,  and  never  quits  the  cell  in  which  it  is
born,  while  the  female  has  well-developed  wings.  Audouin  believes
that  the  females  of  this  species  are  impregnated  by  the  males  which
are  born  in  the  same  cells  with  them;  but  it  is  much  more  probable
that  the  females  visit  other  cells,  so  that  close  interbreeding  is  thus
avoided.  We  shall  hereafter  meet  in  various  classes,  with  a  few
exceptional  cases,  in  which  the  female,  instead  of  the  male,  is  the
seeker  and  wooer.
f  "Essays  and  Observations,"  edited  by  Owen,  vol.  i,  1861,  p.  194.
25^  THE  DESCENT  OF  MAN.
