Ɛpsilon

WCP4018

Letter (WCP4018.3961)

[1]

9. St. Mark's Crescent N.W.

March 10th [1867].1

Dear Newton2

I must decline to undertake the Lep. volume3 or any other, for many reasons. I don’t like the kind of work, and I don’t want to tie myself (by beginning such a job) from doing anything else that may turn up, or that I may like better. Half the time & labour it would take would write my travels,4 & I think pay me better & get me more credit besides being, of the two, more agreeable.

The only man I know who would be likely to do it for you is [2]5 F. Moore,6 of the India House Mus. He has described lots of Indian moths, & has a collection, — and is a steady working fellow who will if he is [to] undertake it, do the work pretty well.

If you should hear of any good Curatorship or Nat. Hist. Secretaryship vacant, please remember me. If sufficiently good & permanent I would give all my private collections to a local museum.

Schlegel’s7 paper is not yet at the Zoological.

Yours very sincerely | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

A. Newton Esq.

1
See note 5.
2
Newton, Alfred (1829-1907). British zoologist and ornithologist. Founding member of the British Ornithologists' Union.
3
See Alfred Newton to ARW, 4 March 1867 (WCP2080.1970).
4
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. London: Macmillan and Co. Two volumes.
5
In Newton’s handwriting, "A. R. Wallace, March 10/12/67. Answered March 12/67." The letter has not been found.
6
Moore, Frederic (1830-1907). British entomologist; Assistant at the East India Company Museum 1848-79; Assistant Curator at the East India Company Museum from 1879.
7
Schlegel, Hermann (1804-1884). German ornithologist, herpetologist and Director of the Leiden Museum of Natural History 1854-84.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP4018.3961)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Ulguim, Priscilla Ferreira [2012-11-07] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Beros, Matt [2020-06-10] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Please cite as “WCP4018,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4018