WCP1935

Letter (WCP1935.4087)

[1]

Holly House, Barking. E.

July 6th. 1870

Dear Darwin

Many thanks for the drawing.1 I must say however the resemblance to a snake is not very striking unless to a Cobra not found in America. It is also evident that it is not Mr Bates['s]2 catterpillar3 as that threw the head backward so as to show the feet above forming imitations of keeled scales.

Claparede4 has sent me his critique on my book. [2] You will probably have it too. His arguments in reply to my heresy seem to me of the weakest.5 I hear you have gone to press, & I look forward with fear & trembling to being crushed under a mountain of facts!

I hear you were in town the other day. When you are again I sh[oul]d. be glad to come at [3] any convenient hour & give you a call.

Hoping your health is improving & with kind remembrances to Mrs Darwin6 & all your family

Believe me| Yours very faithfully| Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Charles Darwin Esq.

1
Darwin had enclosed a drawing and note with his letter sent to ARW on 5 [July 1870]. See WCP1934_L1824. Both the drawing and accompanying note have never been found.
2
Bates, Henry Walter (1825-1892). British naturalist, explorer and close friend of ARW.
3
Archaic form of caterpillar.
4
Claparède, Jean Louis René Antoine Édouard (1832-1871). Swiss anatomist and professor of comparative anatomy at the Geneva Academy 1862-1871.
5
Claparède, É. 1870. Rémarques à propos de l'ouvrage de M. Alfred Russel Wallace sur la théorie de la sélection naturelle. Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles Geneva :t. 38, nouvelle période (No. 150): 160-189.
6
Darwin, Emma (née Wedgwood) (1808-1896). Wife and first cousin of Charles Robert Darwin.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP1935.4087)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Lord, Annette [2012-09-21] Transcription checked by Beros, Matt [2019-12-20]

Transcription (WCP1935.1825)

[1]1

To C.Darwin.) Holly House, Barking.E. July 6th.1870

Dear Darwin Many thanks for the drawing. I must say however the resemblance to a snake is not very striking unless to a Cobra not found in America. It is also evident that it is not Mr Bates' Catterpillar [sic] as that threw the head backward so as to show the feet above forming imitations of Keeled scales.

Claparode (?) [Édouard Claparède] has sent me his critique on my book. You will probably have it too. His arguments in reply to my heresy seem to me of the weakest. I hear you have gone to press, & I look forward with fear & trembling to being crushed under a mountain of facts!

I hear you were in town the other day. When you are again I sh'd be glad to come at any convenient hour & give you a call.

Hoping your health is improving & with kind regards remembrances to Mrs Darwin & all your family Believe me Yours very faithfully | Alfred R.Wallace.

1
Pagenumber (1) is typed top centre of the page, and crossed out in pencil.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Transcription (WCP1935.1825)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Congerton, John [2019-12-17]

Transcription (WCP1935.4497)

[1]

To C.Darwin.) Holly House, Barking, E. Jul[y].6th.1870

Dear Darwin

Many thanks for the drawing. I must say however the resemblance to a snake is not very striking unless to a Cobra not found in America. It is also evident that it is not Mr Bates’1 Catterpillar[sic] as that threw the head backward so as to show the feet above forming the imitations of Keeled scales.

Claparede [sic]2 has sent me his critique on my book. You will probably have it too. His arguments in reply to my heresy seem to me of the weakest. I hear you have gone to press, & I look forward with fear & trembling to being crushed under a mountain of facts!3

I hear you were in town the other day. When you are again I sh’[oul]d be glad to come at any convenient hour & give you a call.

Hoping your health is improving & with kind regards remembrances to Mrs Darwin & all your family[.]

Believe me | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace. [signature]

1
English naturalist and explorer Henry Walter Bates, FRS, FLS, FGS (1825 — 1892). Bates is gave the first scientific account of animal mimicry, and "Batesian mimicry" still bears his name today. Bates was also a friend and expedition companion of Wallace, one of the first supporters of the Darwin/Wallace theory of evolution by natural selection.
2
Swiss naturalist and invertebrate zoologist from Geneva, Jean Louis René Antoine Édouard (Édouard) Claparède (1832 — 1871). Claparède was one of the first Swiss naturalists to endorse Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. The same Claparède would publicly Wallace’s Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection (published in 1870) in the French journal Revue des cours scientifiques and Nature for apparent inconsistencies and departure from Darwinian theory.
3
Here ARW refers to Darwin’s The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, which would be published early in 1871. Much of the text is believed to be written in response to doubts expressed by ARW concerning the evolution of humans. The "heresy" that ARW mentions in the preceding sentence refers to Wallace’s belief that certain features of the human species (especially human mind and spirituality) lie outside the scope of natural selection. This "heresy" was the root of many of the doubts to which Darwin would respond in The Descent of Man.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Transcription (WCP1935.4497)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Clerx, William [2012-08-17] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15]

Published letter (WCP1935.6020)

[1] [p. 253]

Holly House, Barking, E. July 6, 1870.

Dear Darwin, — Many thanks for the drawing.1 I must say, however, the resemblance to a snake is not very striking, unless to a cobra not found in America. It is also evident that it is not Mr. Bates's2 caterpillar, as that threw the head backwards so as to show the feet above, forming imitations of keeled scales.

Claparède3 has sent me his critique on my book. You will probably have it too. His arguments in reply to my heresy seem to me of the weakest. I hear you have gone to press, and I look forward with fear and trembling to being crushed under a mountain of facts!

I hear you were in town the other day. When you are again, I should be glad to come at any convenient hour and give you a call.

Hoping your health is improving, and with kind remembrances to Mrs. Darwin4 and all your family, believe me yours very faithfully, | ALFRED R. WALLACE.

1
The drawing referred to in WCP1934_P6019.
2
Probably Bates, Henry Walter (1825-1892). British naturalist, explorer and close friend of ARW.
3
Claparède, René-Édouard (1832-1871). Swiss anatomist.
4
Darwin, Emma (née Wedgwood) (1808-1896). Wife and first cousin of Charles Robert Darwin.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP1935.6020)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Paterson, Gavin [2019-12-17]

Please cite as “WCP1935,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 19 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1935