Ɛpsilon

WCP2437

Letter (WCP2437.2327)

[1]

MAGDALENE COLLEGE,

CAMBRIDGE.

16 June 1893.

My dear Wallace,

I thank you for your note1 which is very pleasant to read — I only hope that now 30 years (or more) of friendly intercourse has not given you an unconscious bias. I am particularly glad of what you say of Swainson's2 figures, and only wish I could have got the whole of them, but unfortunately many of the blocks, & among them some of the more important, were not forthcoming.

A good book on the Cresses of Birds would indeed be an excellent [2] thing but I hardly see the man to do it , unless it were young Wiglesworth3 who made that list of Polynesian Birds,4 & is no fool. The book that A. H. Evans5 of this place is doing for the series6 that Macmillans are to bring out will in some degree supply the want, but will not have such figures as are really needed.

Trusting that you are well I remain | yours very Truly | Alfred Newton7 [signature]

1
The note has not been found.
2
Swainson, William (1789 -1855), English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist.
3
Wiglesworth, Lionel William (1865 -1901). Australian ornithologist who studied birds of Southeast Asia and Polynesia.
4
Wiglesworth, Lionel William. 1891. Aves polynesiae: a catalogue of the birds of the Polynesian subregion. Berlin: R. Friedlaender & Sohn.
5
Evans, Arthur Humble (1855 -1943). British ornithologist.
6
Evans, Arthur Humble. 1899. Birds. Series: Cambridge natural history, v. 9. Macmillan. London.
7
Newton, Alfred (1829-1907). British zoologist and ornithologist. Founding member of the British Ornithologists' Union.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP2437.2327)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Lucas, Paula [2014-08-19] Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2014-08-19] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Please cite as “WCP2437,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP2437