With regard to the breeding seasons of monkeys, little seems to
be positively known. Heape made special inquiries with reference
to the two species whose sexual life he investigated. He was
informed that _Semnopithecus entellus_ breeds twice a year, in
April and in October. He accepts Aitcheson's statement that the
_Macacus rhesus_, in Simla, copulates in October, and adds that
in the very different climate of the plains it appears to
copulate in May. He concludes that the breeding season varies
greatly in dependence on climate, but believes that the breeding
season is always preserved, and that it affects the sexual
aptitude of the male. He could not make his monkeys copulate
during February or March, but is unable to say whether or not
sexual intercourse is generally admitted outside the breeding
season. He quotes the observation of Breschet that monkeys
copulate during pregnancy.
In primitive human races we very frequently trace precisely the same
influence of the seasonal impulse as may be witnessed in the higher
animals, although among human races it does not always result that the
children are born at the time of the greatest plenty, and on account of
the development of human skill such a result is not necessary. Thus Dr.
Cook found among the Eskimo that during the long winter nights the
secretions are diminished, muscular power is weak, and the passions are
depressed.
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