Ɛpsilon

To Henry Walter Bates   18 December [1866]1

Down Bromley | Kent

Dec. 18th

Dear Bates

Will you kindly do me a favour?— Mr Blyth tells me that in 23d vol. of your R. G. Journal, there is a letter from Commander R?/Butakoft to Sir R. Murchison, in which the tameness of the deer on recently visited Isld. in Lake Aral is mentioned.2 Now if passage is quite short, will you have it copied for me, with man’s name—proper volume, date, of vol. & page.— If passage is long, can you send me Vol. by Post & it shall soon be returned, as I want it soon.—

Forgive me troubling you | & believe me | Dear Bates | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from H. W. Bates, 19 December 1866.
2
Bates was assistant secretary of the Royal Geographical Society of London. CD had asked Edward Blyth for the reference to Aleksey Ivanovich Butakoff’s article, which was communicated to the society by Roderick Impey Murchison (Butakoff 1852; see letter to Edward Blyth, 10 December [1866] and n. 4, and letter from Edward Blyth, 13 [December] 1866).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5312,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5312