From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Alfred Russel Wallace
Date:
15 Apr [1868]
Source of text:
The British Library (Add MS 46434: 133–5)
Summary:
Admires ARW’s "Theory of birds’ nests" [J. Travel & Nat. Hist. 1 (1868): 73].
Discusses their respective views on birds’ nests, sexual selection, and protection.
Asks why, if brilliant colours of female butterflies are result of protective mimicry, do not males become equally brilliant? CD believes variation in females alone accounts for it, rather than protection.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project