Ɛpsilon

To G. G. Stokes   11 March [1868]1

4 Chester Place | Regents Park | N.W.

March 11th

My dear Sir

After writing to you I suddenly remembered that there were albino Peacocks, of which I enclose the two best, but very poor, feathers which I could get.2 On one of these I can see no eye; on the other, when held obliquely, a trace of the eye. These feathers, I suppose, show how true your view is that the colours are due to a thin coloured film.—3 I thought that you possibly would like to see these feathers & that it wd. give you no trouble to receive them & throw them away.

If you can at any time tell me whether the successive zones of colour require films of different colours, or may be caused by a change of thickness or some other change in a uniformly coloured film, I shd be grateful. During next 3 weeks my address will as above;4 afterwards at my home, “Down Bromley Kent”.—

Pray excuse me troubling you & believe me | Yours very truly obliged | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from G. G. Stokes, 27 February 1868.
3
For Stokes’s explanation of the colour in a peacock’s tail, see the letter from G. G. Stokes, 27 February 1868.
4
CD stayed at Sarah Elizabeth Wedgwood’s house from 11 March until 1 April 1868 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.2 different] after del ‘a’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6003,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6003