In insects, as in the higher animals, and as in man, sexual association takes many different forms. But obviously I must not linger over these early types of love. My object is to bring forward examples, which seem to me useful as preliminary studies to throw light on the origin of sex-passion, and proving that the love-process throughout the whole of life is identical. Those who are acquainted with the work of Fabre, "The Insects' Homer," will have no difficulty in accepting this. The studies he has given us of wonderful behaviour of insects, their arts and crafts, their courtships and marriages, their domestic and social relationships, opens up a new drama of animal life.
FOOTNOTES:
[39] Evolution of Sex, p. 265.
[40] There are some who believe that the higher animals pass through a state of embryonic hermaphroditism, but decisive proof of this is wanting. In this connection the structural resemblance of the male and female sexual organs should be noticed; in each sex there is a complete but rudimentary set of parallels to the organs of the other sex. This primitive and fundamental unity of the male and female sex organs is very significant. Indeed, the whole question of hermaphroditism is one of deep suggestion when these embryological facts are brought into relation with the abnormalities which occur in the expression of the sexual impulses. See Evolution of Sex, chapter on "Hermaphroditism," pp. 65-80; also Bloch, Sexual Life of Our Times, pp. 11-12, 551-554. Wieninger's Sex and Character, pp. 6, 7, 13, 45, is also interesting.
[41] A similar condition has been noted among butterflies, where, in some cases, differences in the colouring of the wings on two sides has been found to correspond to an internal co-existence of the male and female sex-organs. It seems probable that this interesting phenomenon of abnormal hermaphroditism is of much commoner occurrence than the cases that have been recorded (Evolution of Sex, p. 67).
[42] "The Love of Slugs," article by James Bladon, Zoologist, Vol. XV., 1857, p. 6272.
[43] "Molluscs," article by Rev. L.H. Cooke, Cambridge Natural History, Vol. III. p. 143. Both these cases are quoted by Havelock Ellis in his illuminative "Analysis of the Sexual Impulse," the opening chapters in the third volume of the Studies in the Psychology of Sex.
[44] Trout also fight during the breeding season. Chapters on Human Love, by Geoffrey Mortimer (W.M. Gallichan), pp. 13-14.
[45] Evolution of Sex, pp. 625-626. Chapters on Human Love, p. 14.