A third form of selection, which may affect the composition of the next generation without of necessity involving a differential death-rate or a differential fertility, is assortative mating, or the tendency of those members of one sex which exhibit a particular character to mate only with members of the other sex which exhibit the same or some other definite character.
For an attempt to treat the whole problem of differential fertility and assortative mating numerically, see Pearson, The Grammar of Science, 2nd edition, London, 1900.
Assortative mating exists when individuals which mate are not paired at random, but a definite correlation is established between the characters of one mate and those of the other.
