From W. B. Tegetmeier   [before 21 December 1864]1

Muswell Hill | London | N

My dear Sir

I have taken the liberty to forward you by this post a copy of the Intellectual Observer containing an article of mine on mimetic analogy—2 The only merit that it can lay claim to, is the endeavour to make the subject known beyond the circle of strictly scientific readers,

As I have since seen a leader in a daily paper in which a conservative is denounced as having mimicked a liberal and the proceeding is illustrated by an allusion to the Theory of Mimetics3 I suppose ⁠⟨⁠several words missing⁠⟩⁠ missed my ⁠⟨⁠several words missing⁠⟩⁠

My mongrel ⁠⟨⁠two or three words missing⁠⟩⁠ still progressing but ⁠⟨⁠two or three words missing⁠⟩⁠ sign of sterility even in the ⁠⟨⁠two words missing⁠⟩⁠ crosses between the most dista⁠⟨⁠nt⁠⟩⁠ varieties.4 Still I have worked out some curious results as to variations, and I think I shall embody them in a short paper this season—5

I hope your health is improving—I beg you will n⁠⟨⁠ot⁠⟩⁠ trouble to write a reply to this unless you can do so without an⁠⟨⁠y⁠⟩⁠ effort.

Believe me | Very sincerely You⁠⟨⁠rs⁠⟩⁠ | W. B. Teget⁠⟨⁠meier⁠⟩⁠

C Darwin Esq

PS. | Should you at any time come across the two or three remaining poultry skulls, I shall be glad of them, but there is no hurry.6

1
The date is established by the reference to Tegetmeier 1864 (see n. 2, below), and by the relationship between this letter and the letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 21 December [1864].
2
Tegetmeier 1864. CD’s annotated copy of this article is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. The article discussed the work of Alfred Russel Wallace, Henry Walter Bates, and other writers on mimetic analogy, concluding on page 313 that: ‘By the Darwinian Theory of Natural Selection, the explanation of these remarkable analogies is sufficiently easy.’ For CD’s interest in the topic, see his unsigned review of Bates 1861 (‘Review of Bates on mimetic butterflies’), and Origin 4th ed., pp. 502–6.
3
The newspaper article has not been identified.
5
No such paper by Tegetmeier has been identified.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4687,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4687