Ɛpsilon

To Editor of the Natural History Review1   [December? 1864]2

My dear Sir

Will you look at the enclosed papers, & if you think fit, publish a note in the Nat. Hist. Review?3 If not worth while, please tear up the papers & please do not in any case take the trouble to acknow⁠⟨⁠ledge⁠⟩⁠ ⁠⟨⁠one third of a page missing⁠⟩⁠

yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

If you do insert a note, I think you had better say “communicated by Mr A. Fonblanque4 of the British Consulate at Alexandria to Mr Darwin”.—

LS(A) incomplete

2
The month is conjectured from the reference to the communication from Albany Fonblanque (see n. 3, below).
3
The enclosure has not been found; however, in January 1865, the Natural History Review printed the communication ‘Notice of a mule breeding’, which described the recent birth of a foal to a mule that had been mated with a donkey (Fonblanque 1865). The subject of mule-breeding had been raised earlier by correspondents of CD’s (see Correspondence vol. 10, letter from George Maw, 7 July 1862, and Correspondence vol. 11, letter from Roland Trimen, 10, 13, and 18 October 1863); the correspondence between Fonblanque and CD has not been found. For CD’s interest in hybrid sterility and fertility, see Origin, pp. 245–78; Variation vol. 2; and Correspondence vol. 10, Appendix VI.
4
Albany Fonblanque.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

3.1 If you … Darwin".— 3.2] added in CD’s hand

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4686,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4686