From W. E. Darwin   11 November 1871

Nov 11. 1871

My dear Father,

I send you a note from Capt Jones with answer from his father, who I believe farms at Bala.1 If this is not enough, I will write again to him.

I have not received any proofs from Murray for some days, I suppose there is some delay.2

Your affect son | W. E. Darwin

What is the meaning of Prof. Cope’s “origin of genera” in Nature3

[Enclosure]

Chester

8. 11 71

My dear Darwin.

My governor4 writes to me. “Of course Castration produces a great effect on the horns of Sheep—as the horns do not grow to so large a size, or so strong— The lambs, are castrated when they are from one to two months old—& the older they are before they are castrated, the larger & stronger will become the horns—& the rule applies to cattle the younger the calf is castrated, the finer (i.e thinner) becomes his horn5

Is this sufficient for your purpose, as I can get you what evidence you like— I do not know whether you want any data as to Ewes horns?

Perhaps you would like measurements length & girth &c taken.—if so let me know, and, I can get these carefully done for your father

Sincerely yrs | R. O. Jones

CD annotations

1.1 I send … Nature 4.1] crossed ink
Enclosure:
1.1 My … strong— 1.2] crossed pencil
1.2 The lambs, … old— 1.3] scored pencil
Top of enclosure: ‘Effects of Castration on Rams’ ink
End of enclosure: ‘Ruck says about 13’6ink
1
William refers to Robert Owen Jones and Robert’s father, William Jones. Bala is a town in north-west Wales.
2
William was reading proofs of the sixth edition of Origin (see letter to W. E. Darwin, [November 1871]).
3
William refers to the essay ‘On the origin of genera’ by Edward Drinker Cope (Cope 1868). A separately published version (Cope 1869) was reviewed in Nature, 9 November 1871, pp. 21–2.
4
Governor (slang): father.
5
CD added information on the effects of castration on the size of the horns of Welsh sheep in Descent 2d ed., p. 506, but he did not give the source.
6
CD refers to the letter from Lawrence Ruck, [after 29 April 1869?] (Correspondence vol. 18, Supplement). Ruck wrote that the horns of castrated rams were one third the length of those of intact rams.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8061,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8061