WCP643

[1]

Waldron Edge, Duppas Hill, Croydon

Nov^r. 14^th. 1879.

My dear Carruthers¹

Thanks for your kindness in speaking to the Duke of Bedford.² I have not however heard from him and have today sent in my application with copies of my testimonials. Should I get the post, the influence of the Duke & others may be perhaps brought to bear on the Committee to induce them to allow some part at least of my plan to be tried, as I hear they are now strongly opposed to it. "They want", they say, "an English forest". —

[2] I see in the papers today that you have just received Miers’ Brazilian Collections of plants. That puts me in mind of a subject I am much interestinged in — the getting some of our collections arranged geographically. Owing to all our great general collections of animals & plants being arranged systematically, it is impossible without enormous labour to get any general notion of the peculiarities of a country, district or continent, and numberless interesting points remain overlooked. Would it not be a great advantage to have one great collection arranged primarily in great Geographical Divisions, — [3] South ^{& Tropical} American, N. American, — African, Australian, Indo-Malayan & Euro-Asiatic plants, for example, being kept together. I cannot see that there would be any great inconvenience in this, even for the student of a natural order a wide genus, for he would easily go over the plants of each region, and would in fact have his attention prominently called to their relative abundance or peculiar facies, or other facts which he might overlook while working in the ordinary manner. The inconveniences of the ordinary method of for the student of Geog. Dist. are on the contrary enormous, as he cannot get at the species of any given area or island without going over [4] the entire collection or hunting through voluminous records of gifts & purchases

I do not know whether you have the power to make such an innovation, but if you have I suggest it for your consideration, as supplying a great want, and at the same time setting a much needed example.

Believe me | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R Wallace [signature]