Quiz: The Descent of Man

15 questions drawn at random. Score 80% for a silver medal.

1. 1. Observing the Fuegians, what did Darwin conclude were the indispensable requisites for civilisation?

   Contact with missionaries and traders, and instruction in European manners Some property, a fixed abode, and the union of many families under a chief Writing, a currency of coins, and an organised priesthood serving the chief A warm climate, abundant fruit, and the freedom to wander in search of game
2. 2. Which animal does Darwin, following Pallas, call “the most inordinate polygamist in the world”?

   The sea-elephant The African lion The Asiatic saiga antelope The wild boar of India
3. 3. What did Gould find in one bower of the Satin bower-bird?

   The feathers of a lyre-bird A silver spoon and a thimble from a settler’s house Painted pebbles and shells arranged in a careful circle A stone tomahawk and a slip of blue cotton from a native camp
4. 4. In Darwin’s imagined experiment, what would most likely happen to a pigeon fancier who tried to breed pale-blue males while keeping slaty females?

   The males would turn white after a few generations, overshooting the intended tint The slaty females would soon become sterile from being crossed with pale-blue males The pale-blue colour would pass to the females alone, leaving the males slaty The pale-blue tint would soon be lost through repeated crosses with slaty females
5. 5. In the ten Sahara species where males and females differ, where is the difference mainly found?

   In the length and shape of the tail feathers On the under surface, hidden when the bird crouches On the head and back, which are exposed when the bird crouches In the colour of the eyes and the bill
6. 6. What happened when Darwin placed a live snake in a paper bag in the monkey-house?

   Only the old Anubis baboon dared to approach and open it The monkeys tore the bag open at once and attacked the snake Monkey after monkey came to peep in, then dashed away The monkeys ignored it entirely, as they had the dead fish
7. 7. What does the butterfly Kallima, recorded by Wallace, resemble when it settles?

   A withered leaf with its footstalk The lichen-covered bark of an old tree The flower-head of the wild parsley A stinging wasp resting on a green twig
8. 8. What is the only rudiment of the alimentary canal that Darwin has found described?

   The semilunar fold The vermiform appendage of the cæcum The gall-bladder lying beneath the liver The supra-condyloid foramen of the humerus
9. 9. How does Darwin explain the indentation at the base of the peacock’s eyespot?

   As a mark that helps the peahen judge the male’s age and vigour As two Polyplectron-like eyespots fused into one As a remnant of the dark stripes found on young peafowl chicks As wear caused by rubbing against the ground in the male’s display
10. 10. What does Darwin call “one of the greatest oversights” in his earlier work?

    Not allowing enough for structures neither beneficial nor injurious Underrating the inherited effects of use and disuse on bodily structure Overlooking the evidence of human antiquity Failing to discuss man in the Origin of Species
11. 11. According to Wallace, why do harmless South American snakes share the coral snakes’ red, black and yellow bands?

    They imitate the venomous Elaps and so are avoided by enemies All four genera inherited the bands from one recent common ancestor The colours attract the females in all four genera alike The bands conceal them among fallen leaves
12. 12. Why, according to the Makalolo chief Chinsurdi, did women wear the pelele, a large ring in the upper lip?

    To mark that they were married To show the wealth and rank of their husbands For beauty, since men have beards and women none To protect them from evil spirits entering by the mouth
13. 13. What makes the pipe-fish genus Solenostoma an exception?

    The female is the brighter sex and alone hatches the eggs The male has a brush of spines on the tail used to clasp the female The male hatches the eggs in his mouth, as some catfish do Both sexes build nests of sea-weed together and take turns guarding them
14. 14. How did Wallace explain the conspicuous colours of some caterpillars?

    They attract the opposite sex well before the adult stage is reached They are simply inherited from the brightly coloured adult butterfly or moth They warn birds that it is unpalatable, since a single peck would kill it They are a direct effect of the coloured plants the caterpillars eat
15. 15. How does Darwin define the advantage on which sexual selection depends?

    The advantage a species gains over other species in the general struggle for existence The advantage of females over males in rearing the young The advantage of the strongest and best-fed individuals in surviving a hard winter The advantage some individuals have over others of their sex and species solely in reproduction