From H. W. Bates   20 May 1868

Royal Geographical Society | 15, Whitehall Place, S.W.

May 20 1868

My Dear Mr Darwin

I think I can get ♂ & ♀ of the Onitis furcatus & also males & females of two or three species of Geotrupes at Mr Janson’s (Dealer);1 he has promised to oblige us, but I must go to his place to select them as soon as I can spare an hour

Yours sincerely | H W Bates

These insects are very cheap—a few pence each for the more curious Geotrupes with conspicuous sexual differences— Would you like more than one or two species?

CD annotations2

3.2 species?] ‘Named, or I cd get [4 words illeg]’ pencil
End of letter: ‘(Janson will you pay. Or ask him to send account.—) Do not hurry’

CD note:

[♂ & ♀ in each—]

Onitis [interl]

Typhæus English sp.—

Copris— not the [interl] English species

2 sp. of Geotrupes

& 4 [after del ‘3 or’] *or 5 [interl] other genera or subgenera *— Those wch differ little & [illeg] which the appearance [is sexual] | some differing [more & some differing little by] [illeg] [added pencil]

(Chiosognotis grantii.)

Chiasognath [added pencil]

1
Onitis furcatus may be a mistake for O. furcifer (see letter from E. W. Janson, 25 May 1868 and n. 11). Onitis furcifer is now Cheironitis furcifer. Onitis and Geotrupes are genera of Coleoptera. Bates refers to Edward Westey Janson. No letter has been found in which CD asked Bates for these specimens.
2
CD’s annotations and his note are notes for his reply to Bates of 21 May [1868].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6194,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6194