WCP1597

[1]

London

9 Elsinore Road, Forest Hill, S.E.

March 3 1892

Dear Mr Wallace,

I posted you this afternoon a copy of our last no. of the Antananarivo Annual just received from Madagascar, and also copies of two papers I read at the Anthropological Inst[itute]. last year. I hope all will be fine & contain something to interest you. After the pleasant interview I had with you at Parkstone about a year ago, I consulted all the books upon Alaska which I could find in the Library of the Geographical Society, for but found nothing much resembling the carved memorials of the Betoiles. I think the lithograph sketches I have given in the paper referring to the carvings will cover a fair [1 word illeg.] of the characteristic ornamentation of these burial memorials.

I have just been reading with extreme interest your Darwinism, and thank you much for all the enjoyment and instruction it has given me. In my humble judgement, the argument is one which is unassailable, and must I think carry conviction to all unprejudiced minds. I heartily [2] thank you (as a Christian minister) for your indication of a spiritual influence in the origination of Mankind, in your concluding chapter, and I rejoice that one so well qualified as yourself to speak with authority on matters of science is not among those who see nothing but materialism in the constitution of the world.

In reading some of your chapters I was reminded of two or three facts I had myself noticed while in Madagascar; and perhaps I may be pardoned for here noting them.

(1) As regards "Warning Colours". Most of our Madagar Locusts are protectively coloured, either grey or brown to assimilate them to the brown & dry grass of the bare [1 word illeg.] hills, or with bright green [1 word illeg.] like the fresh grass of the valleys. But the largest locust is most gaily coloured; green, gold, bright blue, and scarlet wings, all give it a gorgeous appearance, but it is so vile smelling that it cannot be kept in a cabinet, or even handled. It is therefore avoided by all birds, and fearlessly flaunts its bright colours. A Madagar proverb says, "The Dog locust, even its owner dislikes it." (Valalanamboa: na ny timpony àgatsytia.)

(2) Protective Resemblance ^or Mimicry^(?) The examples of this are of course [3] ^{known to be} almost innumerable, in the sense of one insect, bird, animal, &c., resembling another, but I think I detected something a little different in a very common small butterfly, viz. in one part of the body resembling another part of it. In this insect, there are processes at the hinder part of the under wings so closely resembling the antennae, head, & eyes of a butterfly, and so that when the insect is at rest, with the wings [1 word illeg.] & folded together it is difficult to say which is the head, & which the tail. Of the [1 word illeg.] these processes are [2 words illeg.] marked than those of the actual head & antennae, so that it is only when the wings slightly open that one is undeceived. May not this mimicry of the head by the tail be of some service in directing the attention of birds and other enemies to the less vital parts of the butterfly's structure? It is evident that the hinder part of the wings might be broken off and yet no great harm done to the insect.

(3) Protective resemblance. One of the most perfect examples I have ever seen is that of a tree lizard, which so much resembles a piece of the branch of a tree, that when clinging to it, it is impossible to tell which is reptile and which tree. Not only is the roughness and cracks of the bark closely imitated, but there is [4] the most exact reproductions of minute lichens, green, black, & white on the skin, so that it is difficult to believe that the lizard is not itself grown over with cryptograms. The creature appears to be a link between chameleon & tree lizard.

I was shocked & grieved the other day, when travelling north, to see the death of your old colleague & fellow traveller, Mr Bates, announced in the papers. Only a few days ago I had a talk with him at the R[oyal] G[eographical] S[ociety], and he was telling me of his early travels with you, & of your having visited him very recently.

His Amazons, & your Malay Archipelago, I place at the heart of all delightful works of travel and scientific observation.

Before I conclude, may I beg a favour? I know you used to have much correspondence with Charles Darwin. Could you favour me with an autograph of his, or any fragment of his handwriting? I should greatly value it, if you could, & should treasure it among a few others of great naturalists I prize.

I am, my dear Sir, Yours faithfully | James Sibree [signature]

A. R. Wallace, Es[quire] LLD &c.