Down Bromley SE
Tuesday [6 February 1866]1
My dear Wallace
After I had despatched my last note, the simple explanation which you give had occurred to me, & seems satisfactory.
I do not think you understand what I mean by the non-blending of certain varieties. It does not refer to fertility; an instance will explain; I crossed the Painted Lady & Purple sweet-peas, which [2] are very differently coloured var[ietie]s, & got, even out of the same pod, both varieties perfect but none intermediate. Something of this kind I sh[oul]d. think must occur at first with your butterflies & the 3 forms of Lythrum; tho’ these cases are in appearance so wonderful, I do not know that they are really more so than every female in the world producing distinct male & female offspring.
[3] I am heartily glad that you mean to go on preparing your journal.
Believe me | yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin [signature]
Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP1870.1760)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
[1] [p. 169]
Down, Bromley, S.E.
Tuesday, February, 1866
My dear Wallace,—After I had dispatched my last note, the simple explanation which you give had occurred to me, and seems satisfactory. I do not think you understand what I mean by the non-blending of certain varieties. It does not refer to fertility. An instance will explain. I crossed the Painted Lady and Purple sweet peas, which are very differently coloured varieties, and got, even out of the same pod, both varieties perfect, but none intermediate. Something of this kind, I should think, must occur at first with your butterflies and the three forms of Lythrum; though these [2] [p. 170] cases are in appearance so wonderful, I do not know that they are really more so than every female in the world producing distinct male and female offspring.
I am heartily glad that you mean to go on preparing your Journal.—Believe me yours very sincerely,
Ch.[arles] Darwin
Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP1870.5952)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP1870,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 24 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1870