WCP3998

Letter (WCP3998.4400)

[1]

The Dell, Grays, Essex.

Feb[ruar]y 16th. 1873

Dear Dr. Günther

I do not think I shall be able to attend the Zool[ogical]. Club dinner on Tuesday next, so I return you the P.card for future use.1

I wish now to ask you to be so good as to give me some advice and assistance in a work on Geographical Distribution I am now engaged on.2 I wish to give an accurate sketch of what is known of the distribution of each family, and where possible of each well marked and well established genus in the more important classes of land animals. For this purpose it is necessary to have the best existing classification and I shall be very much obliged to [2] you if you can find time, to note down for me the works in which I can obtain the best information on Reptiles & Amphibia.

1st. As to the families and genera; which are most natural & should be adopted. If no recent trustworthy work exists, perhaps you would kindly write out for me the series of families arranged in their respective groups & in the order in [which] they should most conveniently succeed each other.

2nd. Indicate for me the works where I can get the best details of the genera & species & their distribution; for each order & each family.

The families of extinct as well as living Reptiles should be [3] included.

As to fishes I suppose if I work through your catalogues3 I shall have ample information for the mere sketch of these I can attempt.

Of course I am aware how very imperfect & liable to error must be anything I can write from mere compilation on groups of which I am so ignorant as Reptiles & Fishes,— but I only propose to give them in the more systematic part of the work, in order that it may not be incomplete, as I found my chief generalizations & arrange the general scheme of my book by [4]4 a study of Mammalia & Birds with the classification & distribution of which I am a little more familiar.

If you can help me in the manner here indicated I shall be very much obliged.

I remain | Yours very truly | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

1
ARW refers to the meeting of the Zoological Society of London on February 18, 1873.
2
Wallace, A. R. 1876. The Geographical Distribution of Animals; With a Study of the Relations of Living and Extinct Faunas as Elucidating the Past Changes of the Earth's Surface, 2 vols. London, UK: Macmillan & Co.
3
Günther, A. 1859-1870. Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum, 8 vols. London: British Museum (Natural History).
4
A pencil note reading "Wallace" is written in an unknown hand at the top of page 4.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP3998.4400)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Catchpole, Caroline [2012-06-06] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Beros, Matt [2020-06-10]

Published letter (WCP3998.3941)

[1]1 [p. 316]

February 16th, 1873

The Dell,

Grays,

Essex.

"Dear Dr. Gunther,

I wish now to ask you to be so good as to give me some advice and assistance in a work on geographical distribution I am now engaged on. I wish to give an accurate sketch of what is known of the distribution of each family, and where possible of each well marked and well established genus in the more important classes of land animals. For this purpose it is necessary to have the best existing classification and I shall be very much obliged to you if you can find time to note down for me the works in which I can obtain the best information on reptiles and amphibia.

1st. As to the families and genera which are most natural and should be adopted. If no recent trustworthy work exists, perhaps you would kindly write out for me the series of families arranged in their respective groups and in the order in (which) they should most conveniently succeed each other.

2nd. Indicate for me the works where I can get the best details of the genera and species and their distribution, for each order and each family.

The families of extinct as well as living reptiles should be included.

As to fishes I suppose if I work through your catalogues I shall have ample information for the mere sketch of these I can attempt.

Of course I am aware how very imperfect and liable to error must be anything I can write from mere compilation on groups of which I am so ignorant as reptiles and fishes, but I only propose to give them in the more systematic part of the work, in order that it may not be incomplete, as I found my chief generalisations and arrange the general scheme of my book by a study of mammalia and birds, with the classification and distribution of which I am a little more familiar.

If you can help me in the manner here indicated, I shall be very much obliged.

I remain,

Yours very truly,

Alfred R. Wallace."

1
Editor Charles H. Smith’s Note: Two letters Wallace sent to Dr. A. C. L. G. Günther in 1873, when he was beginning to get together materials for what would be The Geographical Distribution of Animals. The letters re-emerged in the book A Century of Zoology at the British Museum Through the Lives of Two Keepers 1815-1914 a hundred years later, in 1975. This is the first of the two letters printed in this book.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP3998.3941)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Smith, Charles Hyde [2012-02-29] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15]

Please cite as “WCP3998,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3998