WCP1911

Letter (WCP1911.1801)

[1]

Down.

Bromley.

Kent. S.E.

Oct 6th [1868]1

My dear Wallace

Your letter is very valuable to me & in every way very kind. I will not inflict a long answer, but only answer your queries.

There are breeds (viz Hamburgh)2 in which both sexes differ much from each other & from both sexes of G. bankiva;3 & both sexes are kept constant by selection. —

The comb of Spanish ♂ has been ordered to be upright & that of Spanish ♀ to lop over, & this [2] has been effected. There are sub-breeds of Game Fowl, with ♀s very distinct & ♂s almost identical; but this apparently is [the] result of spontaneous variation without special selection. —

I am very glad to hear of [the] case of ♀s Birds of Paradise.4

I have never in the least doubted [the] possibility of modifying female birds alone for protection; & I have [3] long believed it for Butterflies: I have wanted only evidence for the females alone of Birds, having had their colour modified for protection.

But then I believe, that the variations by which a female bird or butterfly could get or has got protective colouring have probably from the first been sexually variations limited in their transmission to the female sex; — & so with the variations of the male, where the male is more beautiful than [4] the female, I believe the variations were sexually limited in their transmission to the males.

I am delighted to hear that you have been hard at work on your M.S.5

Yours most sincerely | Ch. Darwin [signature]

"Envelope 1868" is written in another hand at the top of the page. See also WCP1910.4177, ARW to Darwin, 4 Oct. 1868.
The Hamburgh (also Hamburg), a breed of domestic chicken developed in Holland in the 14th century.
Gallus bankiva, a gamebird. Contemporary common names included Javan Cock, Bankiva Cock, and Red Junglefowl.
ARW referred to species of Birds of Paradise in which " females actually differ more than the males". See WCP1910.4177, ARW to Darwin, 4 Oct. 1868.
Wallace, A.R. 1869. The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise. A Narrative of Travel, with Studies of Man and Nature. 1st ed. 2 vols. London: Macmillan and Co.

Published letter (WCP1911.5998)

[1] [p. 231]

Down, Bromley, Kent, S.E. October 6, 1868.

My dear Wallace, — Your letter is very valuable to me, and in every way very kind. I will not inflict a long answer, but only answer your queries. There are breeds (viz. Hamburgh) in which both sexes differ much from each other and from both sexes of G. bankiva; and both sexes are kept constant by selection.

The comb of Spanish ♂ has been ordered to be upright and that of Spanish ♀ to lop over, and this has been effected. There are sub breeds of game fowl, with ♀s very distinct and ♂s almost identical; but this apparently is the result of spontaneous variation without special selection.

I am very glad to hear of the case of ♀ birds of paradise.

I have never in the least, doubted the possibility of modifying female birds alone for protection; and I have long believed it for butterflies: I have wanted only evidence for the females alone of birds having bad their colours modified for protection. But then I believe that the variations by which a female bird or butterfly could get or has got protective colouring have probably from the first been variations limited in their transmission to the female sex; and so with the variations of the male, where the male is more beautiful than the female, I believe the variations were sexually limited in their transmission to the males. I am delighted to hear that you have been hard at work on your MS. — Yours most sincerely, CH. DARWIN.

Please cite as “WCP1911,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1911