WCP4741

Letter (WCP4741.5097)

[1]

The Dell, Grays, Essex.1

Jan[uar]y. 30th. 1873

Dear Flower

Thanks for the title of Leidy's2 work,3 which I have got from the Zool[ogical]. Soc[iety].

I shall be much obliged if you will tell me also the title of Gaudry's4 Memoir on the Pikermi fossils.5 It is not at the Zool[ogical] Soc[iety] unless it is in some periodical.

Is there any book or paper giving an account of the Tertiary Vertebrate fossils of Germany & Switzerland, — or any good summary account of European extinct Vertebrates besides Pictet6 & Owen,7 the former too old, the latter too fragmentary. I have got "Gervais'8 "Zool[ogie]. et Palaeont[ologie]. Francais"9 but that is only for French species.

There is I believe a "Palaeontologie Suisse" by Pictet10 — can you refer me to where [2] to find it.

Do you know if Peter's11 Monograph of Bats,12 announced as in progress several years ago is published or likely to be published soon.

When I can find no good recent monograph or revision of a group of Mammals, is "Carus13 and Gerstaeckers'14 "Handbuch der Zoologie"15 a pretty good authority for the genera to be adopted & the families they are placed in?

I am preparing a book on the "Geographical Distribution of Animals"16 — which I wish to do as well as the [3] published material will allow of, & the first essential is a tolerably natural classification, — not so much of the higher groups as of the families & genera.

Has any good account been given of Lund's17 Brazilian Collections?18 They are constantly quoted, but I only find a reference to his paper in "Ann. Sc. Nat."19 about 20 years ago, which seems very imperfect.

Hoping you can give me the information I want without much trouble[.]

I remain | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Prof. Flower.

1

The Dell, Grays, Essex was ARW's first house he built, where he lived from 25 March 1872 to 25 June/23 July 1876.

2.

2
Leidy, Joseph (1823-1891). American palaeontologist.
3
Leidy, J. 1869. The extinct mammalian fauna of Dakota and Nebraska: Including an account of some allied forms from other localities, together with a synopsis of the mammalian remains of North America. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 7: 1-472.
4
Gaudry, Jean Albert (1827-1908). French geologist and palaeontologist.
5
This refers to a rich deposit of Miocene fossil vertebrates at Pikermi, Greece. The memoir is either: A. Gaudry. 1866. Considérations Générales sur les Animaux Fossiles de Pikermi. Paris: F. Savy; or: A. Gaudry. 1862-67. Animaux Fossiles et Geologie de l'Attique d'apres les Recherches Faites en 1855-56 et en 1860 sous les Auspices de l'Academie des Sciences. Paris: F. Savy.
6
Pictet de la Rive, François Jules (1809-1872). Swiss zoologist and palaeontologist.
7
Owen, Richard (1804-1892). British comparative anatomist and vertebrate palaeontologist. Instrumental in establishing the British Museum (Natural History) in South Kensington. Outspoken opponent of natural selection.
8
Gervais, Paul (1816-1879). French palaeontologist and entomologist.
9
Gervais, P. 1848-52. Zoologie et Paléontologie Françaises (Animaux Vertébrés) ou Nouvelles Recherches sur les Animaux Vivants et Fossiles de la France. Paris: Arthus Bertrand.
10
Pictet, F. J. 1854-1873. Materiaux pour la Paléontogique Suisse, ou Recueil de Monographies sur les Fossils du Jura et des Alpes. Genève [Geneva], Switzerland: H. Georg.
11
Peters, Wilhelm (1815-1883). German naturalist and explorer.
12
Peters, W. 1871. Hr. W. Peters legte eine monographische Übersicht der Chiroptera Gattungen Nycteris und Atalpha vor. In Monatsberichte der Königlichen Preussische Akademie des Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Aus dem Jahre 1870. Berlin: Königliche Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 900-914.
13
Carus, Julius Victor (1823-1903). German zoologist, comparative anatomist and entomologist.
14
Gerstaecker, Carl Eduard Adolph (1828-1895). German zoologist and entomologist.
15
Peters, W. C. H., Carus, J. V., and Gerstaecker, C. E. A. 1863. Handbuch der Zoologie. Leipzig: W. Engelmann.
16
Wallace, A. R. 1876. The Geographical Distribution of Animals; with a Study of the Relations of Living and Extinct Faunas as Elucidating the Past Changes of the Earth's Surface, 2 vols. London: Macmillan & Co.
17
Lund, Peter Wilhelm (1801-1880). Danish zoologist and botanist.
18
Lund was renowned for his collection of extinct and extant fauna from his travels to Brazil in the 1820s and 1830s, particularly from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. His collections are held at the Natural History Museum of Denmark.
19
The French journal Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Zoologie.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP4741.5097)]

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Revision history

Transcribed by Cooper, Rod [2013-02-05] Transcription checked by Barton, Michael [2020-06-09]

Please cite as “WCP4741,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4741