Sends beetle he cannot identify.
Reading J. O. Westwood [Introduction to the modern classification of insects (1839–40)] has reawakened his passion for entomology.
Showing 41–60 of 73 items
The Charles Darwin Collection
The Darwin Correspondence Project is publishing letters written by and to the naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882). Complete transcripts of letters are being made available through the Project’s website (www.darwinproject.ac.uk) after publication in the ongoing print edition of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin (Cambridge University Press 1985–). Metadata and summaries of all known letters (c. 15,000) appear in Ɛpsilon, and the full texts of available letters can also be searched, with links to the full texts.
Sends beetle he cannot identify.
Reading J. O. Westwood [Introduction to the modern classification of insects (1839–40)] has reawakened his passion for entomology.
Sends his comments on JSH’s MS on cirripedes ["On typical objects in natural history", Rep. BAAS (1855): 108–26].
Second Living Cirripedia volume published. Asks THH’s advice on presentation copies for continental naturalists.
THH’s review of Vestiges of creation in [Br. & Foreign Med.-Chir. Rev. 13 (1854)]. CD is almost as unorthodox on species as the author of Vestiges, but hopes not quite so unphilosophical.
Hopes L. Agassiz was sounder on embryological stages than THH thinks.
On individuality.
Huxley’s review exquisite, but too severe on Vestiges; sorry for ridicule of Agassiz’s embryonic fishes.
Stonesfield mammals.
J. O. Westwood deserves Royal Society Medal.
Will begin species work in a few days.
Offers to send collection of cirripedes to Copenhagen Museum in return for assistance in his research. Mentions publication of Living Cirripedia, vol. 2.
Agrees with THH on metamorphosis of branchiae of Balanus, and on his view of Owen.
Returns cirripede specimens to AAG. Encloses specimens for Louis Agassiz in same box.
Since AAG is a member of the Ray Society, will not send him a copy of Living Cirripedia, vol. 2.
Thanks for help on presentation copies of Living Cirripedia, vol. 2.
Suggests he examine cementing apparatus of Balanus.
Will return all but two volumes; requests four titles, including Pepys’s Diaries, but not the first volume.
The land shells, both fossil and recent, of Madeira and Porto Santo have features peculiar to them, so RTL would have no difficulty in identifying them.
Discusses lost investment opportunity.
CD writes as the Treasurer of the Down Coal and Clothing Club and the Down Friendly Club, requesting subscriptions.
Congratulates JDH on receipt of Royal Medal.
CD gathering facts on aberrant genera of insects.
Sends list of aberrant forms of Curculionidae.
Discusses in detail the artificiality of Carl Johan Schönherr’s classification. Sound generalisations about geographical distribution depend on sound classifications. Warns against putting too much faith in current catalogues.
Regrets he cannot come to hear DS’s paper ["On the structure of Mont Blanc", Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 11 (1855): 11–27]. Has a lively interest in the subject.
Edward Forbes has misrepresented his view on foliation and cleavage [Athenæum 30 Sept 1854].
CD is convinced DS’s view will replace Huttonian and Lyellian view of metamorphic schists.
Recommends H. C. Sorby’s paper [probably "On the origin of slaty cleavage", Edinburgh New Philos. J. 55 (1853): 137–50].
Fossil leaves from Disko Island.
JDH to begin working out the botanical geography of the polar sea.
Has not forgotten CD’s request on aberrant species.
Has taken a house on Richmond Hill.
Calculating small number of species in aberrant genera of insects and plants.
Joachim Barrande’s "Colonies", Élie de Beaumont’s "lines of Elevation", Forbes’s "Polarity" make CD despair, as these theories lead to conclusions opposite to CD’s from the same classes of facts.
Asks JSH to inquire about drift-wood at Kerguelen Land.
Hooker’s observation on similarity of Kerguelen plant species to those of Tierra del Fuego strikes CD as a great anomaly, so he is searching for an answer, "however improbable".
Requests authoritative information on erratic boulders and marks of glaciers in New Zealand, and especially in southern islands.
In response to CD’s query, HCW says he cannot supply "any list of species as the flora of a single and sterile soil". Suggests a possible source of information, and provides some figures for Britain, but these apply to diverse soils.