The Dell, Grays, Essex.
March 28th. 1873
Dear Dr. Gunther,
I send you my table of Reptiles for you to look over as you kindly promised.1 I have added all the genera noticed in the "Bericht"2 & "Record"3 since the date of the catalogues of "Lizards" and "Snakes". I have intercalated them as [best] I could putting them as much as possible near genera from the same localities.
As there are probably many genera which should be united in one genus, I think it would be convenient if you would indicate these by putting the same letter to them — a. a. a. — b. b. b. b. — c. c. — &c. scoring under the name which should be retained for the composite genus. The genera [2] and families which you consider to be most certainly natural can be indicated as you suggested by an asterisk (*).
A few new families I have put in by guess. Please state which of the old families they had best come after.
I had not time to add the new genera of tortoises,— but as these are probably few, perhaps you will be so good as to insert those which you think are of any importance.
Believe me | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]
The Zoological Record was founded by a group of zoologists associated with the Zoological Society of London and the British Museum under the leadership of Albert Günther. The first volume appeared in 1865 and was published by John van Voort; the publication of later volumes was aided by grants from the British Association, Royal Society and Zoological Society.
Günther was the editor of the Zoological Record until 1869 when Alfred Newton took over. (Bridson, G. D. R. 1968. The Zoological Record – A Centenary Appraisal. Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History. 5(1): 23–34).
Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP3999.4401)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
[1] [p. 317]1
March 28th 1873
The Dell,
Grays,
Essex.
"Dear Dr. Gunther,
I send you my tables of reptiles for you to look over as you kindly promised. I have added all the genera noticed in the ‘Bericht’ and ‘Record’ since the date of the catalogues of ‘lizards’ and ‘snakes’. I have intercalated these as I could putting them as much as possible near genera from the same localities.
As there are probably many genera which should be united in one genus, I think it would be convenient if you would indicate these by putting the same letter to them—a, a, a—b, b, b, b,—c, c,—etc. scoring under the name which should be retained for the appropriate genus. The genera and families which you consider to be most certainly natural can be indicated as you suggested by an asterisk (*).
A few new families I have put in by guess. Please state which of the old families they had best come after.
I had not time to add the new genera of tortoises—but as these are probably few, perhaps you will be so good as to insert those which you think are of any importance.
Believe me,
Yours very faithfully,
Alfred R. Wallace."
Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP3999.3942)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP3999,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3999