To W. B. Tegetmeier   4 December [1866]1

Down Bromley | Kent

Dec 4th.

My dear Sir

You will remember the note you sent me about Mr. Zurhorst & the eggs; & it seems so distinct that although your experiments were contradictory, I am tempted to give the case.2 Pray tell me what you think. If Mr. Z. actually saw the eggs himself I would rely on him. Perhaps you will be so kind as to give me his address & I will write & ask.

I was very sorry not to see you in London but was unable to break my previous engagement.3 I am now looking through my pigeon & fowl M.S. & am profitting by your remarks.4 I hope in a fortnight to send the whole to press.5

My dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

LS

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 9 July [1866] (see n. 2, below).
2
CD had asked Tegetmeier whether Frederick William Zurhorst would repeat an experiment that involved crossing a Cochin hen with a Spanish fowl in order to study the eggs produced (see letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 16 January [1866] and n. 5). No letter reporting Zurhorst’s observations has been found, but Tegetmeier evidently made the experiment himself and reported his results to CD (see the letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 9 July [1866] and n. 4).
3
CD was in London from 22 to 29 November 1866 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).
4
CD refers to the three chapters on pigeons and fowls in Variation 1: 131–275. He had asked Tegetmeier to comment on the manuscript of these chapters the previous year (see Correspondence vol. 13).
5
CD sent the manuscript of all but the last chapter of Variation to his publisher on 22 December 1866 (see letter to John Murray, 21 and 22 December [1866]).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5293,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5293