To John Innes   [after 16 February 1857]1

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Wednesday

Dear Innes

I strongly recommend you to read enclosed beginning at p. 38 to 91.—2 Von Siebold is about the most careful & profound naturalist in Europe.3 I have found in this Book some facts, such as I was enquiring from you in regard to Bees.—4

Ever yours | C. Darwin

1
Dated from the reference to Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold’s work on parthenogenesis (Siebold 1856), an English translation of which (Siebold 1857) was published between 31 January and 16 February 1857 (Publishers’ Circular, 16 February 1857, p. 94). CD’s copy of Siebold 1857 is in the Darwin Library–CUL.
2
The page numbers refer to the chapter in Siebold 1857 entitled ‘True parthenogenesis in the honey bee’.
3
Siebold had been appointed Ordinarius professor of zoology and comparative anatomy at the University of Munich in 1853. He was noted for his detailed microscopical researches on invertebrates.
4
CD cited Siebold 1857 in his discussion of the two varieties of the common hive-bee in Natural selection, p. 372 n. 5.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.3 in this Book] interl

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