Ɛpsilon

WCP2096

Letter (WCP2096.1986)

[1]

73, Harley St

London. W.

Oct 22. 1867.1

Dear Mr Wallace

I was very glad to get your grand list of papers which ought to satisfy even those who vote species-describing to be the real work of a naturalist & all the profounder views of philosophy to be mere writing for the amusement of the public.

On looking down the list I see some papers which I have not got & ought to read. Before I set to [2] work to try & buy them I will ask you if you happen by chance to have spare copies of them & in that case could let me have them that I may bind them up with others which you have given me or which I have extracted from different periodicals purchased with that object.

1st On Monkeys of the Amazon. Zool. Soc/522

2nd Habits of Butterflies of Amazons. Entomological Trans/533

3. Geographical Dist. of birds Ibis 1859.4

4. Value of osteological characters in classification of birds. ann. & mag of Nat Hist /565

[3]

5. On a natural arrangement of birds. Ann & Mag. 1856 /57 — 86

6. Three papers on Borneo Orang-utan — Ann & Mag 1857/ — 587

7. On Rev. S. Haughtons Paper on Bees Cells & origin of species. Ann & Mag. 1863.8

8. Progress of civilization in northern Celebes Ethnological Trans. 1865.9

If the papers on the landshells of the Malay archipelago Proc. of Zool. Soc 1865 contains all general views about species in islands10 I must write it up. You will not be likely to have duplicate of that but please tell me if it contains any general views or only relates to description of new [4] species[.]

most truly yours | Cha Lyell11 [signature]

1
Later annotation in ARW’s handwriting.
2
Wallace, A. R. 1852. On the Monkeys of the Amazon. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 20: 107-110.
3
Wallace, A. R. 1854. On the Habits of the Butterflies of the Amazon Valley. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 2 (n.s.), part VIII: 253-264 (April 1854).
4
Wallace, A. R. 1859. Letter From Mr. Wallace Concerning the Geographical Distribution of Birds. Ibis 1: 449-454 (Oct. 1859: no. 4).
5
Wallace, A. R. 1864. Remarks on the Value of Osteological Characters in the Classification of Birds. Ibis 6: 36-41 (Jan. 1864: no. 21).
6
Wallace, A. R. 1856. Attempts at a Natural Arrangement of Birds. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 18 (2nd s.): 193-216 (Sept. 1856: no. 105, 2nd s.).
7
Wallace, A. R. 1856. On the Habits of the Orang-utan of Borneo. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 18 (2nd s.): 26-32 (July 1856: no. 103, 2nd s.); 1856. On the Orang-utan or Mias of Borneo. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 17 (2nd s.): 471-476 (June 1856: no. 102, 2nd s.); Some Account of an Infant "Orang-utan." Annals and Magazine of Natural History 17 (2nd s.): 386-390 (May 1856: no. 101, 2nd s.).
8
Wallace, A. R. 1863. Remarks on the Rev. S. Haughton's paper on the bee's cell, and on the origin of species. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 3rd series, 12: 303-309.
9
Wallace, A. R. 1866. On the Progress of Civilization in Northern Celebes. Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London 4 (n.s.): 61-70.
10
Wallace, A. R. 1865. List of the Land Shells Collected by Mr. Wallace in the Malay Archipelago, With Descriptions of the New Species by Mr. Henry Adams. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: 405-416.
11
Lyell, Charles (1797-1875). British geologist and author, notably of the influential Principles of Geology (1830-1833). President of the Geological Society of London, 1835-37 and 1849-51.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP2096.1986)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Cooper, Rod [2013-03-04] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-03-27] Transcription checked by Parfitt, Elisabeth [2013-05-13] Transcription checked by Beros, Matt [2020-09-15] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2025-03-03]

Please cite as “WCP2096,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP2096