Jeff Ragan’s Reviews > Darwin > Status Update
Jeff Ragan
is on page 297 of 659
"It is generally admitted that the higher animals possess memory, attention association, &...imagination & reason. If these powers, which differ much in different animals, are capable of improvement, there seems no great improbability in more complex faculties, such as the higher forms of abstraction, & self-consciousness, etc, having been evolved through the development & combination of the simpler ones" (297).
— Mar 16, 2026 08:53AM
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Jeff’s Previous Updates
Jeff Ragan
is on page 484 of 659
"...those who have kept many different species of geese together well know what unaccountable attachments they are frequently forming, and that they are quite as likely to pair and rear young with individuals of a race (species) apparently the most alien to themselves as with their own stock" (482).
— Sep 23, 2026 01:20PM
Jeff Ragan
is on page 477 of 659
"...it appears that when sexual selection has been highly influential, and has given bright colours to the males of any species, it has also very often given a strong tendency to pugnacity...with birds the power of song and brilliant colours have rarely been both acquired by the males of the same species" (474).
— Sep 15, 2026 05:32AM
Jeff Ragan
is on page 470 of 659
"...the habit of annually moulting twice has not been acquired in order that the male should assume an ornamental character during the breeding-season; but that the double moult, having been originally acquired for some distinct purpose, has subsequently been taken advantage of in certain cases for gaining a nuptial plumage" (469).
— Sep 09, 2026 07:16AM
Jeff Ragan
is on page 464 of 659
The diversity of the sounds, both vocal and instrumental, made by the males of many birds during the breeding-season, and the diversity of the means of producing such sounds, are highly remarkable" (462).
— Sep 05, 2026 06:47AM
Jeff Ragan
is on page 456 of 659
"...the female capercailzie sometimes steals away with a young male who has not dared to enter the arena with the older cocks..." (455).
— Aug 28, 2026 08:09PM
Jeff Ragan
is on page 451 of 659
"Mr. E. Layard, saw a cobra thrust its head through a narrow hole & swallow a toad. 'With this encumbrance he could not withdraw himself...he reluctantly disgorged the precious morsel...this was too much for snake philosophy to bear, & the toad was again seized, & again was the snake...compelled to part with its pray. This time...the toad was seized by one leg, withdrawn, & then swallowed in triumph!' (447).
— Aug 18, 2026 07:22PM
Jeff Ragan
is on page 444 of 659
"...there are fishes, the males of which hatch their eggs in their mouths; and those who do not believe in the principle of gradual evolution might ask how could such a habit have originated" (441).
— Aug 10, 2026 09:22AM
Jeff Ragan
is on page 435 of 659
"From the ardour of the male throughout the animal kingdom, he is generally willing to accept any female; and it is the female which usually exerts a choice" (429).
— Aug 02, 2026 05:55PM
Jeff Ragan
is on page 428 of 659
"With animals of all kinds, whenever colour has been modified for some special purpose, this has been, as far as we can judge, either for direct or indirect protection, or as an attraction between the sexes" (424).
— Jul 27, 2026 10:36AM
Jeff Ragan
is on page 422 of 659
"The two sexes of another lamellicorn beetle, the Ateuchus cicatricosus, live in pairs, and seem much attached to each other..." (417).
— Jul 23, 2026 01:22PM