WCP4026

Letter (WCP4026.3969)

[1]

Hurstpierpoint

March 11th. 1868

Dear Newton

Mr. Gurney1 has sent me some notes on the Spizaeti we examined together, which I have returned & have asked him to send to you for insertion2 along with my note in the next "Ibis".3

I return you Blyth's4 note with thanks. I omitted to look over his lengthy notes as I ought to have done. I do not think that a bird's being in the Calcutta Museum5 as from Malacca, is always sufficient proof that [2] it really came from there. The name supereus[?] Horsf. I maintain must be sunk, the description being quite unrecognisable even though the types are in the E[ast]. I[ndia]. Museum.6

With regard to Huxley's 'Classification'7 I cannot think that such a heterogeneous group as his Desmognathae8, for instance, will ever be adopted by Ornithologists.

What I wish Huxley would do is to try and trace out the genealogy of Birds, and then [3] leave us to arrange our own groups, for it is evident the same genealogical tree can be divided many ways into groups, of various degrees of convenience and homogeneity.

Embryology and anatomy sh[oul]d mark out for us the lines of affinity, not mass birds into great groups, which are almost sure to be at least as "irrational and unsatisfactory" — as schemes founded on external characters.

Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

[4]9

1
Gurney, John Henry (1819-1890). British banker, politician and ornithologist.
2
See WCP6979.8088.
3
ARW's note on errors was published in the April issue of Ibis. (Wallace, A. R. 1868. Corrections of, and Additions to, the Catalogue of the Raptorial Birds of the Malay Archipelago. Ibis. 4(14): 215-216).
4
Blyth, Edward (1810-1873). British zoologist; Curator of the Museum of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal 1841-62.
5
The Indian Museum at Calcutta was founded by the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1814 under the superintendence of Nathaniel Wallich. The original collection of the museum was formed from Wallich's personal collection and the collection of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta. After Wallich's resignation, J. T. Pearson was appointed curator followed shortly by John McClelland. Edward Blyth was curator from 1841 until 1862. (Pandey, S. 2014. The Indian Museum completes 200 years. Science Reporter, 51(10): 38-41).
6
The India Museum of London was established in 1801 as the Oriental Repository of East India House, Leadenhall Street, London and was maintained by the East India Company until 1858. In 1861 the India Museum temporarily relocated to Fife House at Whitehall until 1868 when the India Office terminated its occupancy. The museum subsequently reopened at the India Office in 1869 and was relocated again in 1875 at rooms rented from the South Kesington Museum. In 1879 the India Museum was dissolved and its collection was dispersed. (Desmond R. 1982. The India Musuem 1801-1879. London: HMSO.)
7
Huxley, T. H. 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. 415-472.
8
A primary division of birds having the maxillopalatines united directly or by ossifications in the nasal septum and including the ducks, geese, herons, storks, totipalmate birds, birds of prey, parrots, and most picarian birds. (Merriam-Webster).
9
A blue ink annotation is written in Newton's hand at the upper left-hand corner of page 5, "A. R. Wallace, March 11/[18]68."

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP4026.3969)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Royce, Isobel [2013-02-04] Transcription checked by Lucas, Paula J. [2014-05-06] Transcription checked by Beros, Matt [2020-06-10] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10]

Enclosure (WCP4026.3970)

[1]

[A tree diagram appears here.]

____________________

1 2 3

A AB A

B DCE BCD

DC GF EG

E EF

F

G

Of these three arrangements of the above related groups, each might agree best with certain characters, but none could be said to be absolutely truer than the other. We should therefore choose the most convenient & that which agreed best with external characters.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Enclosure (WCP4026.3970)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Royce, Isobel [2013-01-30] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-30] Transcription checked by Beros, Matt [2020-06-10]

Please cite as “WCP4026,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 13 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4026