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From:
Augustus De Morgan
To:
Miss Herschel
Date:
[4 August 1855]
Source of text:
RS:HS 6.271
Summary:

Has not heard from her father for some time. Would she inform her father that Richard Sheepshanks died this morning of apoplexy.

Contributor:
John Herschel Project
From:
Edward Blyth
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
4 Aug 1855
Source of text:
DAR 98: A69–A78
Summary:

Sends a skeleton of a Bengal jungle cock.

Has never heard of trained otters breeding in captivity.

Introduced domestic rabbits are confined to the ports of India.

Canaries and other tame finches and thrushes brought into India do not breed well.

Origin of the domestic canary. Tendency of domesticated birds to produce "top-knot" varieties.

The tame geese of lower Bengal are hybrids; those of upper Bengal are said to be pure Anser cygnoides.

Wild Anser cinereus occur in flocks in the cold season.

Discusses at length different breeds of domestic cats and possible wild progenitors. Wild and domestic cats occasionally interbreed. The Angora variety breeds freely with the common Bengal cat and all stages of intermediates can be found.

Believes pigeons have been bred in India since remote antiquity.

Discusses whether mankind is divided into races or distinct species.

[CD’s notes are an abstract of this letter.]

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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