Ɛpsilon

To F. B. White   23 September [1878]1

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

Sept. 23d

Dear Sir

I have now read your paper, & I hope that you will not think me presumptuous in writing another line to say how excellent it seems to me.— I believe that you have largely solved the problem of the affinities of the inhabitants of this most interesting little island, & this is a delightful triumph.—2

Dear Sir Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin.

1
The year is established by the reference to F. B. White 1878 (see n. 2, below).
2
CD’s annotated copy of White’s ‘Contributions to a knowledge of the hemipterous fauna of St. Helena, and speculations on its origin’ (F. B. White 1878), in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, is in the unbound journal collection in the Darwin Archive–CUL. White argued that fauna colonised the extremely isolated Atlantic island of St Helena from the north along a now submerged chain of island ‘stepping stones’, taking advantage of ocean currents and winds that had since then reversed direction owing to the end of a glacial period (F. B. White 1878, pp. 454–5).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11707,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11707