Introduction

Abstract

In preparing and attending this symposium, I was confronted by many new facts and ideas and by markedly divergent approaches to the subject. As a result, I was able to attain a more all-round picture of the problem of ritualization, which was of great help to my own thinking. Accordingly, in lieu of attempting the impossible task of writing a critical summary of the proceedings, I have considerably expanded my opening to give what I hope will prove to be a useful introductory conspectus of this important and widely ramifying subject. Sixty-four years ago Selous (1901) made the first detailed observational record of elaborate mutual display—a subject not even mentioned by Darwin (1881) in his lengthy analysis of sexual selection—in the widely distributed Great Crested Grebe ( Podiceps cristatus ). Thirteen years later (J. S. Huxley 1914) I gave the first scientific description and analysis of its courtship ceremonies, noted that some of its display-behaviour was carried out in a ritual manner, and deduced that some displays functioned as an emotional bond between the mated pair.