WCP6198

[1]

Sandhurst, Torquay

Feb. 10. 1880

To Alfred Russel Wallace Esq.

My dear Sir,

I thank you for your kind reply to my question. That the reply is what it is I much regret, since it extinguishes my hopes of possessing those memoirs of yours in previous vols of Trans. Ent. Soc. which I have glanced over with admiration, but which ought to be ever at hand if they are to be of legitimate service. I still hope to possess your "Rio Negro", to stand beside your old friend & fellow traveller, Bates's charming "Amazon". Your "Palm trees of the Am." has long been a valued denizen of my shelves; and, of later years, your "Malay Archipelago" has been one of the best thumbed, most loved, & most annotated, of all my ^(secular) books. [2]

Your "Geogr. Distrib. Anim." is of high interest & value; but, as I am too old-fashioned, quite to accept your geological hypotheses, my enthusiasm for it is not quite so fervid in its glow.

I have no right to suppose that you will take any special interest in Sea Anemones; yet I feel emboldened to ask your kind acceptance of my book on the subject, at least as a sincere expression of my warm respect and admiration.

And permit me to remain | My dear Sir, | Your obd^t & obliged Serv^t., | P. H. Gosse¹ [signature]