Ɛpsilon

To Auguste Forel   28 September [1874]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Sept. 28th

Dear Sir

I thank you sincerely for your magnificent present of your great work on the ants of Switzerland,2—a work worthy of the country of P. Huber.3 I will soon read it, & I am sure it will interest me greatly, for I have always felt the most lively curiosity about these insects, the most wonderful in the world.— If you can read English, I would advise you to read Mr. Belt’s “The Naturalist in Nicaragua” (1874): it contains much most curious matter about ants.4

With much respect & my thanks | I remain Dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

P.S. I have opened my note to thank you for your extremely kind letter just received, which has given me much pleasure. It was very good of you to point out the more interesting passages, but I shall certainly look through the whole work.5

C.D.

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Auguste Forel, 23 September 1874.
4
CD had been particularly interested in Thomas Belt’s description of the feeding habits of leaf-carrying ants in Belt 1874 (see letter to Fritz Müller, 1 January 1874, and letter from Fritz Müller, 20 April [1874]).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

3.1 P.S. … work. 3.3] in hand of amanuensis

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9661,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9661