Ɛpsilon

To August Weismann   17 February 1877

Down, Beckenham, Kent

Feb: 17th. 1877

My dear Sir

I grieve to say that Mr. Bates’ negotiations for the loan of the drawings have failed, as you will see by the enclosed note addressed to him. Mr. Buckley must be a sulky disobliging man.1

I have not yet had time to read your essays on “Daphnoiden”, which you kindly sent me, for I have had to read so much on subjects at which I am at work, but I certainly will do so hereafter.—2 Without intending to do so, all my observations have of late been directed towards plants.

With the highest respect, | my dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

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1
Henry Walter Bates was trying to obtain drawings of caterpillars of British Lepidoptera made by William Buckler (see letter from H. W. Bates, 11 January 1877). The enclosure has not been found.
2
Weismann sent parts 2, 3, and 4 of Weismann 1879 to CD at this time; these parts were published in 1877. CD’s annotated copy of parts 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 of Weismann 1879 are in the Darwin Library–CUL (see Marginalia 1: 854–5). Weismann’s work was a study of egg and embryo formation in various groups of ‘daphnoids’ (Weismann’s category included genera now placed in the suborder Cladocera (water fleas), and the related suborder Laevicaudata).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10850,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10850