WCP1911

[1]

Down.

Bromley.

Kent. S.E.

Oct 6^th [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]