RECORD: Darwin, C. R. n.d. Abstract of Perrier, La Sélection sexuelled d'après Darwin, 1873. CUL-DAR89.39. Edited by John van Wyhe (Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 11.2021. RN1
NOTE: See record in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue, enter its Identifier here. Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. The volumes CUL-DAR 87-90 contain material for Darwin's book Descent of man 2d ed. (1874-1877).
Perrier, E. 1873. [Review of Descent]. L'origine de l'homme d'après Darwin (1 Feb.): 717-726; La selection sexuelle d'après Darwin. Revue Scientifique (Paris), (15 Mar.): 861-875. [DAR Pam R232]. http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1873_Review_DescentFR_Perrier_A1581.pdf
Darwin cited this in Descent 2d ed., p. 293. n61: "M. Perrier in his article 'la Sélection sexuelled d'après Darwin' ('Revue Scientifique,' Feb. 1873, p. 868), without apparently having reflected much on the subject, objects that as the males of social bees are known to be produced from unfertilised ova, they could not transmit new characters to their male offspring. This is an extraordinary objection. A female bee fertilised by a male, which presented some character facilitating the union of the sexes, or rendering him more attractive to the female, would lay eggs which would produce only females; but these young females would next year produce males; and will it be pretended that such males would not inherit the characters of their male grandfathers? To take a case with ordinary animals as nearly parallel as possible: if a female of any white quadruped or bird were crossed by a male of a black breed, and the male and female offspring were paired together, will it be pretended that the grandchildren would not inherit a tendency to blackness from their male grandfather? The acquirement of new characters by the sterile worker-bees is a much more difficult case, but I have endeavoured to show in my 'Origin of Species,' how these sterile beings are subjected to the power of natural selection."
[39]
Revue Scientifique No 31. Sexual Selection Perrier lower animals.
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
File last updated 25 September, 2022