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From Edward Blyth   2 July 1868

July 2/68—

Dear Mr. Darwin,

Many thanks for the copies of your papers.1 I read them over carefully when on a visit to Dr Bree2 at Colchester last week.— It will interest you to know that there are now in the Z. G. specimens of the moufflon sheep from Corsica & from Sardinia, while I have examined some fine skins of the Cyprian race belonging to Ld Lilford, who indeed procured them at my particular request.3 It is remarkable that the three races are as different as many that pass for species. I noted, of course, your remarks about Primula vulgaris & P. veris.4

Yours Sincerely, E Blyth

1
One of the papers may have been ‘Dimorphic condition in Primula’; see n. 4, below.
3
Thomas Littleton Powys, fourth Baron Lilford, presented two mouflon sheep to the menagerie of the Zoological Society of London (the Zoological Gardens) in March 1868. A third was presented by another person in April, and one was born in May. (Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1868): 640–3.)
4
Blyth may refer to CD’s remarks in his paper ‘Dimorphic condition in Primula’, where he mentioned the dispute over whether Primula veris and P. vulgaris (the primrose and the cowslip) were species or varieties (‘Dimorphic condition in Primula’, p. 93 (Collected papers 2: 60)).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6263,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6263