Ɛpsilon

From R. B. Litchfield   26 February 1873

A friend tells me of follg. errata in “Descent”. Ed. 1871 Perhaps they’ve been since corrected

Vol. II.
p. 65. Platycercus is spelt, in margin, platycerus.1
p. 240 4th. line from bottom The word Elephus shd. be elaphus [ελαφος] not, as in the errata, elaphas2
p. 44 line 24 ortygornis shd. be divided thus: ortyg-ornis— not as it is orty-gornis3
I. 354 qy shd. not phasgonoura be phasganoura?4

R.B.L.

CD annotations

Vol. II.... platycerus.] del ink
1
The misspelling is in the text that accompanies the image (fig. 44) of wing feathers of male and female Selasphorus platycercus (the broad-tailed hummingbird). The spelling is correct in Descent 2d ed., p. 378.
2
The reference is to Cervus elaphus (the red deer). In Descent 2: 240, n. 2, the word is spelled elephus; in the errata (Descent 2: iv), the spelling is changed to elaphas. In Descent 2d ed., p. 501, n. 3, the spelling is correct.
3
In Descent 2d ed., p. 363, the name Ortygornis is not split.
4
Litchfield evidently refers to Phasgonura viridissimus (a synonym of Tettigona viridissima, the great green bush-cricket). CD’s spelling (Phasgonura) was correct.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8787,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8787