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From Francis Darwin to the Auckland Star   4 January 1877

Down, Beckenham, Kent, | Railway Station, Orpington, S.E.R.

January 4, 1877

Dear Sir,—

My father directs me to thank you for your account of the alleged discovery in New Ireland.1 My father does not believe in the existence of the tailed men, but even if it should prove true it would (as a mere inherited monstrosity) have no important bearing on evolution.

Yours faithfully, Francis Darwin.

1
An article on a report of tailed men at Kalili, New Ireland (now Kalil in Papua New Guinea) appeared in the Auckland Star, 10 November 1876, p. 2. See also Correspondence vol. 25, letter from Arthur Mellersh, 1 January 1877.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10770F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10770F