Ɛpsilon

To ?   23 March [1872–4]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

March 23d

My dear Sir

In a table which I drew up several years ago of all the authentic crosses amongst the Phasianidæ, I give the Gold & Silver pheasant;2 but, though I give references to every other case, I have by some accident omitted this single one! I feel certain I shd. not have introduced it without fairly good evidence. I hope that you will publish your case.

My dear Sir, Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
The year range is established by the printed stationery, with the address in the centre; CD used this type of notepaper between January 1872 and November 1874.
2
CD discussed the plumage of the gold pheasant (Phasianus pictus; now Chrysolophus pictus) in Variation 1: 275. CD did not use a species name for the silver pheasant; the original name was Phasianus nycthemerus, though CD probably knew it as Euplocamus nycthemerus (it is now Lophura nycthemera). In Descent 2: 192, CD noted that female pheasants of several species, including gold and silver, resembled each other in plumage. The table of crosses has not been found.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.3 some] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8250,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8250