Ɛpsilon

WCP4020

Letter (WCP4020.3963)

[1]

76½, Westbourne Grove

Bayswater. W.

Nov. 8th. 1867

Dear Newton1

The only new species is my Spizaetus nanus, but the specimen is poor & wants the tip of the upper mandible.

I have a good specimen of Spizaetus kieneri, but I forget if that has already been figured. Look & see if I quote a figure in the MSS. and let me know to whom I shall send the specimen. I shall be back here for a few days on [2] November 20th (I am now going to Newcastle to Lecture). All the winter I shall be staying in the country & my address is, HurstpierpointSussex.

I have no sternum of Hierax: what you say about it is very curious, and as I know nothing of it I should prefer your putting a note about its doubtful affinities.

[3] I have just been looking over Huxley's2 paper3 in the Proceedings of Zool. Soc. and am very doubtful of some of his affinities. However I shall study it more closely by & by. Does not the fact of his finding closeaffinity between Cypselus and Hirundo Podargus & Cancroma indicate that palatal structure varies in accordance with general modifications of form & eye & function and may be comparatively unimportant? [4]4I cannot think this one character shd. override differences of the Sternum pterolysis, egg & foot structure & other good characters.

Yours very truly | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

A. Newton Esq.

1
Newton, Alfred (1829-1907). British zoologist and ornithologist. Founding member of the British Ornithologists' Union.
2
Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825-1895). British biologist and author, known as "Darwin's Bulldog".
3
Huxley, T. 1867. On the classification of birds; and on the taxonomic value of the modifications of certain of the cranial bones observable in that class. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, pp. 415-472.
4
In Newton’s handwriting, "A. R. Wallace, Nov. 8/9/67. Answered Nov. 20/67." The letter has not been found.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP4020.3963)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Royce, Isobel [2013-01-04] 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 “WCP4020,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4020