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Wallace, Alfred Russel, 1823-1913

"Darwinism (1889)"

This
peculiarity is not correlated with any external differences of form or
colour, or with inherent peculiarities of likes or dislikes leading to
any choice as to the pairing of the two sets of individuals. We have now
to inquire, What would be the result?
Taking, first, the 10,000 pairs of the physiological or abnormal
variety, we find that each male of these might pair with any one of the
whole 100,000 of the opposite sex. If, therefore, there was nothing to
limit their choice to particular individuals of either variety, the
probabilities are that 9000 of them would pair with the opposite
variety, and only 1000 with their own variety--that is, that 9000 would
form sterile unions, and only _one_ thousand would form fertile unions.
Taking, next, the 90,000 normal individuals of either sex, we find, that
each male of these has also a choice of 100,000 to pair with. The
probabilities are, therefore, that nine-tenths of them--that is,
81,000--would pair with their normal fellows, while 9000 would pair with
the opposite abnormal variety forming the above-mentioned sterile
unions.


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