Thanks PGK for his aid in reporting the curious case of the parrot.
Will consult John Gould about rosella [Australian parakeet].
Recalls with pleasure their friendship on board the Beagle.
Showing 81–100 of 225 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.
Thanks PGK for his aid in reporting the curious case of the parrot.
Will consult John Gould about rosella [Australian parakeet].
Recalls with pleasure their friendship on board the Beagle.
Thanks GM for specimens of Drosophyllum; by a strange coincidence CD has also received plants from a correspondent in Oporto [W. C. Tait].
Arranges to send a copy of Journal of researches.
Has made a wonderful recovery [from riding accident].
Asks for information on blushing and screaming [for Expression].
Thanks JM for Quarterly Review. A. R. Wallace’s article inimitably good – and a triumph that it appears where it will make B[ishop] of O[xford] and Owen gnash their teeth.
Delighted at the sale of F. Müller’s book.
Thinks he has brought Origin up to "present standard of science" [5th ed. (June 1869)].
Slow progress on Descent.
His horse rolled over him, but he is recovering rapidly.
Referee report on paper by Richard Spruce on sacs in Melastoma [see 6690]. CD says RS’s suggestions that sacs are inherited is not supported and should be deleted.
Asks for a photograph of CL to be used by a society [in Serbia].
Comments on article by Wallace ["Sir Charles Lyell on geological climates and the Origin", Q. Rev. 126 (1869): 359–94].
Has finished new edition of Origin [5th (1869)]
and is back at work on sexual selection [Descent].
Discusses changes in 5th edition of Origin owing to new evidence. CD now places more value on action of external conditions; thinks lapse of time [required for development of species] not so great as some geologists have thought, and single variations [saltations] of even less importance compared with individual differences.
Dislikes the use of the term "degradation" as applied to the closed flowers of Viola species. Species with such self-fertilising flowers also have flowers adapted for crossing. The development of closed flowers adapted to ensure a sufficient stock of seed is progressive.
Asks whether in Slavonic races the hair of the beard and head are different colours.
Thanks for [D. D. Cunningham’s] letter. Had hoped for a better haul but delighted to hear of the curious fossil.
Sends photograph of Sir C. Lyell and Professor Owen, generally considered our most distinguished [British] naturalists. Includes the requested photograph of himself [see 6720].
In response to a query from a Mr D. T. Fish, CD reaffirms his view of the efficiency of worms in bringing up in their intestines fine soil from below the surface. Reports on observations, during the past 25 years, which confirm his views.
Recommends publication of Mrs Barber’s paper on a rare case of fertilisation of a plant by one kind of insect alone, with access of others prevented by a mechanical obstacle [Mary Elizabeth Barber, "On the fertilisation and dissemination of Duvernoia adhatodoides", J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 11 (1869): 469–72].
Sends a letter (and seeds) from Fritz Müller about a strange monstrous form of Begonia found wild in Brazil. Asks GB whether it is worth communicating to Linnean Society.
Comments on paper by JJW ["On insects and insectivorous birds", Trans. R. Entomol. Soc. Lond. (1869): 21–6]. JJW’s verification of A. R. Wallace’s suggestion regarding inheritance is quite a discovery.
Cites article by David Forbes dealing with the geology of the S. American Cordillera ["Geology of Bolivia and South Peru", Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 17 (1861): 7–62].
Discusses the flexures of the Cordillera, the age of the mountains, and basaltic dikes in granite areas.
Asks for information about male birds migrating before females.
Orders two second-hand books from a dealer’s catalogue.
Thanks for MS observations on expression. Discusses hair standing on end in terror and rage. Asks JC-B to observe contraction of platysma myoides. "Your description of the grinning and exposure of the canine teeth under furious rage is excellent. I presume that you would not object to my quoting it." Asks about contraction of "grief muscles". Comments on blushing. Offers to send book by G. B. A. Duchenne [Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine (1862)].