Ɛpsilon

To W. B. Tegetmeier   18 July [1871]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

July 18th

My dear Sir

I am very sorry to hear about the skull. My vague impression is that I returned it to you separately. After returning to you the main lot, I made a selection of all my skeletons & catalogued them & sent them to the British Museum, & threw away all the refuse.2 As I knew the Horned Skull well (& still remember it perfectly) & knew that you valued it, I could not by accident have sent it to the B. Museum. To make sure I have looked through 2 cupboards & a Box, in which I kept all skeletons, & I find my memory correct, for there is not a bone of any kind left. I think that you must have put the skull somewhere or lent it to some one. I cannot believe that I neglected to return it to you.— I am very sorry for its loss.—

Many thanks for the interesting account of the cat show, & especially for the skin & capital case of the Turbit.—3

With my sincere thanks | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from W. B. Tegetmeier, 17 [July] 1871.
3
See letter from W. B. Tegetmeier, 17 [July] 1871 and nn. 2–4. In Descent 1: 294, CD had written that the young of Sebright bantams had ‘feathers tipped with black’, which made ‘a near approach to lacing’; in Descent 2d ed., p. 238, he wrote that their wing feathers were ‘distinctly, though imperfectly laced’.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 is] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7871,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7871