Origin of Species Variorum

Comparison with 1872

would not have been decked with beautiful flowers, but would have produced only such poor flowers as we see on our fir, oak, nut and ash trees, on grasses, spinach, docks, and nettles, which are all fertilised through the agency of the wind. A similar line of argument holds good with ... fruits; that a ripe strawberry or cherry is as pleasing to the eye as to the palate,— that the gaily-coloured fruit of the spindle-wood tree and the scarlet berries of the holly are beautiful objects,— will be admitted by every one. But this beauty serves merely as a guide to birds and beasts, in order that the fruit may be devoured and the manured seeds disseminated: I infer that this is the case from having as yet found no exception to the rule that seeds .. are always thus disseminated when embedded within a fruit of any kind (that is within a fleshy or pulpy envelope), if it be coloured of any brilliant tint, or .. rendered conspicuous by being .. white or black. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

On the other hand, I willingly admit that a great number of male animals, as all our most gorgeous birds, .. some fishes, reptiles, and mammals, and a host of magnificently coloured butterflies, ... have been rendered beautiful for beauty's sake; but this has been effected ... through sexual selection, that is, by the more beautiful males having been continually preferred by the females, and not for the delight of man. So it is with the music of birds. We may infer from all this that a nearly similar taste for beautiful colours and for musical sounds runs through a large part of the animal kingdom. When the female is as beautifully coloured as the male, which is not rarely the case with birds and butterflies, the cause apparently lies in the colours acquired through sexual selection having been transmitted to both sexes, instead of to the males alone.

Text in this page (from paragraph 5020, sentence 410 to paragraph 5020, sentence 500, word 5) is not present in 1872

would not have been decked with beautiful flowers, but would have produced only such poor flowers as are now borne by our firs, oaks, nut and ash trees, by the grasses, by spinach, docks, and nettles. A similar line of argument holds good with the many kinds of beautiful fruits; that a ripe strawberry or cherry is as pleasing to the eye as to the palate, that the gaily-coloured fruit of the spindle-wood tree and the scarlet berries of the holly are beautiful objects, will be admitted by every one. But this beauty serves merely as a guide to birds and beasts, that the fruit may be devoured and the seeds thus disseminated: I infer that this is the case from having as yet found in every instance that seeds, which are embedded within a fruit of any kind, that is within a fleshy or pulpy envelope, if it be coloured of any brilliant tint, or merely rendered conspicuous by being coloured white or black, are always disseminated by being first devoured.

On the other hand, I willingly admit that a great number of male animals, as all our most gorgeous birds, certainly some fishes, perhaps some mammals, and a host of magnificently coloured butterflies and some other insects, have been rendered beautiful for beauty's sake; but this has been effected not for the delight of man, but through sexual selection, that is from the more beautiful males having been continually preferred by their less ornamented females. So it is with the music of birds. We may infer from all this that a similar taste for beautiful colours and for musical sounds runs through a large part of the animal kingdom. When the female is as beautifully coloured as the male, which is not rarely the case with birds and butterflies, the cause simply lies in the colours acquired through sexual selection having been inherited by both sexes, instead of by the males alone. ↑ We can sometimes plainly see