Ɛpsilon

To J. E. Gray   4 February [1873]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Febr 4th

My dear Gray

I remember reading in Molina about the Huemul & enquired about it in the S. parts of S. America.2 It must be in most parts rare, for I heard such vague accounts that I concluded it did not exist.— I am glad that you have made out what it is.—3 I hope that you keep pretty well: you retain indomitable activity.—4

Pray give my kind regards to Mrs Gray5 & believe me | yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the allusion to Gray’s paper on the huemul (see n. 3, below).
2
The huemul or guemul, an Andean deer species (now Hippocamelus bisulcus), was first described by Juan Ignacio (Giovanni Ignazio) Molina (Molina 1782, p. 320). The huemul is also described in Molina 1788–95, 1: 364–5; CD’s annotated copy, which he acquired in 1834 in Valparaiso while on the Beagle voyage, is in the Darwin Library–CUL (see Marginalia 1: 595).
3
The first part of Gray’s paper ‘On the guémul’ appeared in the December 1872 issue of Annals and Magazine of Natural History (J. E. Gray 1872–3; two further parts appeared in March and April 1873).
4
In 1869, Gray had suffered a paralytic stroke, from which he never fully recovered. He carried on as keeper of the zoological department of the British Museum until 1874 (ODNB).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8758,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8758