To T. C. Eyton   4 August [1858]1

Norfolk House | Shanklin | I. of Wight.

Aug 4th

Dear Eyton

Your note has been forwarded here, where we are established for a short time for health sake.—2 I thank you very truly for taking the trouble of sending me the reference; I think I am acquainted with them but will take your note home & then see. I am heartily glad to hear of your two intended publications.3 That on skeletons of Birds will, I presume, be a laborious undertaking. Just before I left home I broke ground on the skeletons of Pigeons; ie I arranged them preparatory to comparison;4 I daresay I may have to consult you on this subject; & if so I trust to your kindness to assist me.—

I am, also, employed in drawing up a long abstract on my notions about Species & Varieties, to be read in parts before Linnean Socy. Whenever it is published late in the autumn, I will send you a copy. My bigger Book will not be out for some two or three years.—

With many thanks.— Believe me | Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin

1
Dated by CD’s visit to the Isle of Wight (see n. 2, below).
2
CD visited the Isle of Wight with his family from 17 July to 13 August 1858 (‘Journal’; Appendix II).
3
Eyton 1858, and possibly the second part of Eyton 1856–8.
4
CD had prepared skeletons of all the major breeds of pigeons to illustrate their differences. See Variation 1: 162–79.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2319,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2319