WCP2327

Letter (WCP2327.2217)

[1]

The Palace. Buitenzorg1

Java

(76 Sloan[e] Street — on

the 24th. Jany.)2

9th. decr. [18]'75

My dear Sir,

In your "Malay Archipelago"3 — & in your "Protective resemblances"4— you do not I think speak of the "living leaves" & "living flowers". You describe the "living sticks" of one[?] kind, if I remember right, — but not I think the" Bamboo insect". are these wonderful creatures — now kept as pets here by Madame de Lansbugh[?] & by Mr Tycemann[sic][?]5. popularly described anywhere? The "living flower" is an insect preying on live butterflies — & is exactly like a pink orchid.6 The living leaves are leaf eaters. They7 [2] have never been brought to England — have they?

Very truly yours | Charles W Dilke8.[signature]

1

Buitenzorg, a hill station in the residency of Batavia, on the island of Java, was the residence of the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies. Its botanical garden was among the finest in the world. Encyclopedia Britannica (1911) <http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Buitenzorg> [accessed 21 March 2015]. Its name was changed to Bogor in 1950 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogor> [accessed 22 March 2015].

For a near-contemporary description of the palace and botanic garden, see Worsfold, Basil (1893). A Visit to Java, Richard Bentley, London. i-x, 1-283 [pp. 103-133] <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27152/27152-h/27152-h.htm> [accessed 23 March 2015].

2
Dilke was the Member of Parliament for Chelsea, London, and lived at this address in Sloane Street. Once the parliamentary session had finished he set out in December 1874 for "Japan, China, Java, Singapore, and the Straits of Malacca…The beauty of Java, where he stayed at the Governor's Palace at Buitenzorg, charmed him." Gwynn, Stephen and Tuckwell, Gertrude (Ed.) (1917). The Life of The Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, John Murray, London. i-xix, 1-557 [pp. 194-5]. <http://archive.org/stream/lifeofrthonsirch00gwynuoft/lifeofrthonsirch00gwynuoft_djvu.txt> [accessed 22 March 2015].
3
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. Macmillan and Co., London. 2 vols.
4
Wallace, A. R. (1867). Mimicry, and Other Protective Resemblances among Animals. Westminster Review (n.s.) 32 (173, 1 July): 1-43.
5
Probably Johannes Elias Teijsmann (1808-1882). Biologist, botanist and plant collector. His surname is sometimes spelt Teysmann. He was Director of the Buitenzorg Botanic Gardens from 1831-1869. He was awarded the title "Inspector Honorair Cultures" and continued to travel widely, collecting for the gardens. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Elias_Teijsmann> [accessed 23 March 2015].
6
Wallace later describes this as a mantis, explaining that information on it was communicated to him by Dilke. Wallace, A. R. (1878) Tropical Nature and Other Essays, Macmillan, London i-xiii, 1-356 [p. 173] <http://wallace-online.org/converted/pdf/1878_TropicalNature_S719.pdf> [accessed 23 March 2015]
7
The word "They" is written over another word, possibly "It".
8
British Museum stamp in red ink below the signature.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP2327.2217)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Ghosh, Susan [2015-04-08] Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2015-04-08] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10]

Please cite as “WCP2327,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP2327