WCP4532

[1]

Parkstone, Dorset.

April 1^st. 1896

My dear Meldola

We should be very pleased to see you & Mrs. Meldola here but there are no trains on Sunday. On Monday we may be out ourselves, but if you come on Tuesday or on the day you return to town on your way we should be glad to See you at any time. Will is here now for a few days but [2] returns on Saturday as he wants to join his "Clarion" Cycling Club which meets at Bakewell in Derbyshire ^{for Easter.} Last Sunday he started about 11 am. for Shaftesbury, & returned about 6.30 — a very hilly road & a strong N[orth] W[est] wind — 55 miles in all! To day he & a friend are gone to Salisbury & Stonehenge! What a glorious thing cycles are for young people.

[3] I was very much pleased with your Ent[omological] Soc[iety] Address, which I hope will encourage the theorists, without discouraging the species-men. I am writing an article on one of my pet subjects — the utility of all specific characters — as a counterblast to Romanes last book — "Darwin & After Darwin" — P[ar]t 2.

I have also written a review of Cope’s last book for "Nature" — which ought [4]¹ to appear this week or next. He is a bright example of a "fact" man who gets hopelessly muddled when he tackles a theory.

Yours very truly| Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Prof. R. Meldola