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To Friedrich Rolle   24 November 1868

Down. | Bromley. | Kent S.E.

Nov. 24. 1868

My dear Sir

I am very much obliged to you for your kindness about the breeds of fowls & for the several statements which you have copied out.1

I was aware that it wd be a mere chance if the breed with the hens furnished with spurs still existed, for if so I was very anxious to hear about the character of the young.

I have been glad to see the extracts from Blumenbach about the sexual difference in tufted fowls, for the sexes in England are now so exactly alike that breeders here will not believe that they once differed so greatly.2

Many thanks for your information about various books recently published in Germany. I am sorry to hear that Dr. Weinland3 has given up writing for I fully expected that he wd have done good work.

With my best thanks for your kindness & with much respect I remain my dear Sir | yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

Copy

1
See letter from Friedrich Rolle, 20 November 1868. Rolle had enclosed excerpts from books and papers, none of which have been found, and also referred to recent and forthcoming publications in German.
2
CD refers to Johann Friedrich Blumenbach and to an excerpt from Blumenbach 1805, pp. 85, 538, which discussed sexual differences in the crania of tufted fowls.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6472,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6472