Ɛpsilon

To Frederick Bates   26 June [1870?]1

6. Queen Anne St | London W

June 26th

Dear Sir

It is extremely kind of you to remember my request about Trox.2 Unfortunately I have left home for a week, & the beetles have been forwarded here. I have opened them & they look very lively. But I have no microscopes here or other means of investigation. I have put a few in a separate Box & will feed & take home, & will soon take or send the remainder to your brother. 3

I am rather in despair how to observe them, for they sham dead when touched, & do not like most other beetles seem at all inclined to stridulate.

With very sincere thanks | Pray believe me | Yours truly obliged | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is conjectured from the relationship between this letter and the letter to Frederick Bates, 19 June [1868?] (Correspondence vol. 16), and from CD’s mention of being in London for a week. In 1870, CD was in London from 24 June to 1 July (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)). In 1869, he had been in Wales for most of June (Correspondence vol. 17, Appendix II).
2
See Correspondence vol. 16, letter to Frederick Bates, 19 June [1868?]. CD discussed the stridulation of Trox sabulosus in Descent 1: 380, commenting that he himself had failed to discover the organs of stridulation in this beetle (see also Correspondence vol. 16, letter to B. D. Walsh, 9 June 1868).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.5 soon] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7245A,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7245A