WCP5680

Letter (WCP5680.6533)

[1]

The Dell, Grays, Essex

Oct[obe]r. 15th. 1874

Dear Sharpe

1. Do you know who is well up in Fringillidae1, & would give me a list of genera to be adopted, as I am quite confused by the awful contradictions [1 word illeg.] ornithologists in their use of generic names & their affinities in this family.

2. Can you tell me where I can find any account of the Zoology (especially Mammalia & Birds) of the Cape de Verde Islands? [2] I have not got a scrap of information about them & don't know whether they are Ethiopian or Palaearctic.

3. Do you know where I can get a cheap second hand copy of Gray[']s2 Hand-List3?

4. When can you let me have [the] list of Mad[agascan]. birds? Or will you like to get out all the peculiar forms, with[?] their supposed nearest allies; & let us go over them [3] together some day?

If you know of a copy of the "Hand List", — & can get or send it me at once I sh[oul]d be obliged.

Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

1
Fringillidae. Family of finches.
2
Gray, George Robert (1808-1872). English zoologist.
3
Hand-list of Genera and Species of Birds, Distinguishing Those Contained in the British Museum. Three volumes written by George Robert Gray and published from 1869 to 1871 by the British Museum. Not to be confused with the series of books of the same name written by Richard Bowdler Sharpe and published between 1899 and 1909.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP5680.6533)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Rodwell, Stephen [2014-09-26] Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2014-09-26] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10]

Please cite as “WCP5680,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP5680