CHAPTER IV

THE EARLY RELATIONSHIP OF THE SEXES

Summary of conclusions arrived at in the previous chapters--The necessity of a further examination of sexual love among our pre-human ancestors--The question approached from a different point of view--The impelling motive of love the union of two cells--Hermaphroditism--Its various forms--The first step in the ladder of sex--Reproduction among fishes--The next step--The attraction of one sex for the other--The female and the male begin to associate in pairs--Illustration of the salmon--Sexual differences become more frequent--The males distinguished by bright colours and ornamental appendages--Sexual passion and jealous combats of rival males--Examples--A further step--The note of physical fondness--The male plays with the female, wooing and caressing her--The love play often extraordinary--The case of the stickleback--The males, passionate, polygamous, and jealous--The paternal instinct of the stickleback--Nature making experiments in parenthood--Parental forethought among insects--Illustrations of male parental care--The obstetric frog--Further examples of primitive animal courtships--A psychic attraction added to the physical--The courtship of the octopus--A final step--The co-operation of the sexes in work together--The dung-rolling beetle--The significance of these early courtships--Analogy with our sex-passions--The love-process identical throughout the whole of life.

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