From:
Alfred Russel Wallace
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
7 Feb 1868
Source of text:
DAR 106: B48
Summary:
Thanks for Variation.
Reports work on his travel book [The Malay Archipelago (1869)].
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Alfred Russel Wallace
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
24 Feb 1868
Source of text:
DAR 106: B70–2, DAR 86: A10–11
Summary:
Responds to CD’s queries on polygamy in birds and orang.
Discusses sexual selection and secondary characters; colours and sexual preference.
Expresses his admiration for Pangenesis; it is superior to Herbert Spencer’s theory.
ARW differs somewhat with CD’s chapter on causes of variability [ch. 22 in Variation]. Thinks several of CD’s arguments are unsound.
Briefly discusses how natural selection might aid in producing sterility between allied species.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
