Espinas, in 1878, in his suggestive book, _Des Societes Animales_,
described the odors, colors and forms, sounds, games, parades, and mock
battles of animals, approaching the subject in a somewhat more
psychological spirit than either Darwin or Wallace, and he somewhat more
clearly apprehended the object of these phenomena in producing mutual
excitement and stimulating tumescence. He noted the significance of the
action of the hermaphroditic snails in inserting their darts into each
other's flesh near the vulva in order to cause preliminary excitation. He
remarks of this whole group of phenomena: "It is the preliminary of sexual
union, it constitutes the first act of it. By it the image of the male is
graven on the consciousness of the female, and in a manner impregnates it,
so as to determine there, as the effects of this representation descend to
the depths of the organism, the physiological modifications necessary to
fecundation." Beaunis, again, in an analysis of the sexual sensations, was
inclined to think that the dances and parades of the male are solely
intended to excite the female, not perceiving, however, that they at the
same time serve to further excite the male also.
Pages:
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73