From W. B. Tegetmeier   [16–20 February 1868]1

My dear Sir

I write a hurried line and send you the first instalment relating the Thoroughbred horses.2

If you will return the Coursing Calendar I will extract from it. The other years of greyhounds must be made up out of the papers as no return has been compiled3

In extreme haste | Truly Yours | W B Tegetmeier

C Darwin Esq.

1
The date range is established by the relationship between this letter and the letters to W. B. Tegetmeier, 15 February [1868] and 21 February [1868].
2
The enclosure has not been found. Tegetmeier may have sent CD the information on thoroughbred horses that he published in the Field, 22 February 1868, p. 144, together with a request on CD’s behalf for facts on the proportion of the sexes in horses and other domesticated animals. Tegetmeier’s notice on horses was as follows: ‘By referring to the Racing Calendar for the last two-and-twenty years (since 1846 inclusive), I have ascertained the proportion of thoroughbred colts and fillies foaled during that period; they amount to 12,763 colts and 12,797 fillies.... I believe the general impression abroad is that the fillies are considerably in excess of the colts.’ See letter from W. B. Tegetmeier, [before 15 February 1868].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5882,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5882