. The descent of man : and selection in relation to sex . Evolution; Natural selection; Heredity; Human beings. 434 THE DESCENT OP MAN. and become confused; and above this limit the whole upper end of the feather (a) is covered with white dots, surrounded by- little black rings, standing on a dark ground. The oblique stripe belonging to the uppermost ocellus (b) is barely represented by a very- short irregular black mark with the usual, curved, transverse base. As this stripe is thus abruptly cut off, we can perhaps understand from what has gone before, how it Is that the upper thickened part
. The descent of man : and selection in relation to sex . Evolution; Natural selection; Heredity; Human beings. 434 THE DESCENT OP MAN. and become confused; and above this limit the whole upper end of the feather (a) is covered with white dots, surrounded by- little black rings, standing on a dark ground. The oblique stripe belonging to the uppermost ocellus (b) is barely represented by a very- short irregular black mark with the usual, curved, transverse base. As this stripe is thus abruptly cut off, we can perhaps understand from what has gone before, how it Is that the upper thickened part of the ring is here absent; for, as before stated, this thickened part appar- « 'jft-^ ' "' "S»'J''S'^"!^ ently stands in some relation with «\,5^^ J^it\.£,« ^^ ^ broken prolongation from the next higher spot. From the absence of the upper and thickened part of the ring, the uppermost ocellus, though perfect in all other respects, ap- pears as if its top had been obliquely sliced off. It would, I think, per- plex any one, who believes that the plumage of the Argus-pheasant was created as we now see it, to account for the imperfect condition of the uppermost ocellus. I should add that on the secondary wing-feather farthest from the body, all the ocelli are smaller and less perfect than on the other feathers, and have the upper part of the ring de- ficient, as in the case just men- tioned. The Imperfection here seems to be connected with the fact that the spots on this feather show less tendency than usual to become confluent into stripes; they are on and-socket ocellus. (The the contrary, often broken up into shading- above the white smaller spots, so that two or three rows run down to the same ocellus: There still remains another very curious point, first observed by which deserves attention. In a Fig. 61. Portion near summit of one of the secondary wing'-feathers, bearing- per- fect ball-and-socket ocelli. a. Ornamented upper part. b. Upperm
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjecthumanbeings, bookyear
