Dear Sir
Notwithstanding the kind consideration shown in your last sentence I must thank you for your interesting & clearly-expressed letter.—2 I have directed my publisher to send you a copy of the last Edit. of the Origin3 & you can, if you like, paste in the “From the author”, on next page—
In relation to your & Profr. Cope’s view on “acceleration” causing the development of new characters, it wd, I think, be well if you were to compare the Decapods which pass & do not pass through the Zoea stage, & the one group which does (according to Fritz Müller) pass through the still earlier Nauplius stage, & see if they present any marked differences.—4 You will I believe find that this is not the case.— I wish it were, for I have often been perplexed at the omission of embryonic stages (, as well as the acquirement of peculiar stages) appearing to produce no special result on the mature form.— I have been very unwell since writing to you before, & must leave home for a ⟨ ⟩.—5
Believe me ⟨ ⟩
Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8678,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on