Sex [electronic resource] . males, by vibrating their body andwings. The reaction on the females partbegins when the male flies past overhead orsettles down close by; it stops when the soundstops. It seems difficult to avoid the con-clusion that the female hears the males love-signal. It seems likely that sight plays arole on his part, and that the tremulous,vibrating movements of the female attracthis attention. We cannot say more in regard to thisfascinating subject of animal courtship. Ina great variety of ways, male animals seem to THE CYCLE OF SEX 129 express their emotions in the presenc
Sex [electronic resource] . males, by vibrating their body andwings. The reaction on the females partbegins when the male flies past overhead orsettles down close by; it stops when the soundstops. It seems difficult to avoid the con-clusion that the female hears the males love-signal. It seems likely that sight plays arole on his part, and that the tremulous,vibrating movements of the female attracthis attention. We cannot say more in regard to thisfascinating subject of animal courtship. Ina great variety of ways, male animals seem to THE CYCLE OF SEX 129 express their emotions in the presence orproximity of their desired mates. Manymale spiders have a characteristic love dance,in which they circle round and round theshort-sighted females, as if they were showingoff their agility and beauty. Many birds,such as the Argus pheasant and the peacock,make elaborate displays, bending and bowing,strutting and saluting, in a manner thatbeggars description. Finest and most familiaris the musical appeal of many birds. We. Fig. 19.—Two male spiders. A, Astia vittata posing :ibeforethe female. B, Icius mitratus dancing before the female.(After the Peckhams.) must not read too much into them, for thesuitors are as it were sex-intoxicated, express-ing their ardour instinctively and with aban-don, rather than with deliberation or we must not think of them too cheaply,or surrender them too readily to the physio-logist to whom love is a mere label for thealterations of metabolism that follow fromthe brain being eroticised by in Love.—Coming now to humani 130 SEX affairs, there is a sense in which falling inlove may be termed instinctive, if we takeinstinct to mean a reaching-out of the wholeorganism—impulsively rather than deliber-ately, synthetically rather than analytically,intuitively rather than rationally. We arenot referring to a passing fancy for a prettyface, nor to a sudden impulse of the flesh,but to something much more wonderful—which
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