WCP1726

Letter (WCP1726.1609)

[1]

5, Westbourne Terrace, W.

August 13th. 1862

My dear Dr. Sclater1

I have been to the Linnean Museum2 & as far as I can see in the dark, the Pitta landacusis[?],3 kuki[?], is the same as P. vigorsi, Gould.4 — I have therefore (not to create useless synonyms) altered the name in the "Proceedings"5 & given the necessary explanation.

I shall be much obliged if you can publish in the next number of the "Ibis"6 the accompanying descriptions of [2] some fresh birds from Gilolo7 just received, — because duplicates of many of them are in Stevens'8 hands with my names attached & I do not want the "continentals" to have any excuse for giving them fresh ones.

I leave to morrow for Devonshire for a few weeks.9 I hope you have enjoyed your continental trip.

Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

P. L. Sclater Esq.

[3] P.S. Elliott10 [sic] has made horrid figures of P. vigorsi by copying Gould's11 figure in a new attitude.

I should think he would be glad of a figure from a good specimen to exchange for that, which is a disgrace to his work.

ARW. [signature]

1
Sclater, Philip Lutley (1829-1913). British lawyer, zoologist and ornithologist, secretary to the Zoological Society of London.
2
The collections of the Linnean Society of London.
3
The name for a potentially new species of bird in the genus Pitta that ARW decided was the same as Pitta vigorsi.
4
Pitta vigorsi, the white-chinned Pitta.
5
Wallace, A. R. 1862. Descriptions of Three New Species of Pitta from the Moluccas. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 30: 187-188.
6
Wallace, A. R. 1862. On some new Birds from the Northern Moluccas. Ibis. 4: 348-351.
7
Now Halmahera, the largest of the islands in the Moluccas, or Maluku Islands.
8
Stevens, Samuel (1817-1899). British entomologist and dealer in natural history specimens; agent of ARW.
9
In a letter to Charles Darwin dated 8 Aug. 1862 [volume cross reference here?], ARW wrote, 'In a day or two I go to Devonshire for a few weeks and hope to lay in a stock of health to enable me to stick to work at my collections during the winter. I begin to find that large collections involve a heavy amount of manual labour which is not very agreeable'.
10
Elliot, Daniel Giraud (1835-1915). American zoologist.
11
Gould, John (1804-1881). British ornithologist and publisher.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP1726.1609)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Brunnen, Claire [2012-03-02] Transcription checked by Jenkins, Helen [2012-04-18] Transcription checked by Szentgyorgyi, Katherine [2012-04-18] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Barton, Michael [2019-02-25]

Please cite as “WCP1726,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 30 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1726