WCP652

Letter (WCP652.824)

[1]

5, Westbourne Grove Terrace

London, W.

Decr 11th 1863

My dear Sir

I am very much obliged by your kindness in sending me the plates of your new Lepidoptera1 which I hope to receive shortly.

I received the Diploma you mention from Prof. Westwood2 & thought I had acknowledged it the last time I wrote to you. Please to return thanks in my name to the Zoological Society of Vienna for the honour they have done me.3

With regard to the drawing you have enclosed in your letter, it is not the ♀ of Pap[ilio]. tydeus, but comes nearest to specimens which I have from the islands [2] of Goram [Gorom] & Matabello [Maluku, or The Moluccas] (which lay to the E. of Ceram), & it also approaches to ♀'s [sic] from the Aru Islands, but the individuals of this group of Papilio vary much, and it is very difficult to identify specimens of which the locality is not known. I have several very curious forms of ♀. of this group, & Mr. Westwood has now proposed to me to figure them all, and as the ♀ of tydeus (of which I have only one specimen) serves to connect two forms of ♀ which occur in the group it will form an important part of the series of figures, & I therefore regret that I cannot send it [to] you.

I hope we shall have the pleasure of seeing you in London next year [3] Mr Hewitson4 having mentioned to me that you had some thoughts of coming.

I send you a copy of the "Rules for Zoological Nomenclature" on which your criticisms are requested, in order that an amended code may be published with the sanction of all European Naturalists.5

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

Dr C. Felder

[4] NB. The ♀. of tydeus has the basal half of the under wings entirely yellowish & the marginal lunules6 also of an ochraceus yellow.

I send two copies of the Rules. Please give one to any naturalist who is an author & is interested in the subject, & favour me with his name.

ARW [signature]

1
Possibly the plates later published as Felder, C., Felder, R. & Rogenhofer, A. F. 1864-1875. Reise der österreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859 unter den Befehlen des Commodore B. von Wüllerstorf Urbair. Zoologischer Theil. Zweiter Band. Zweite Abtheilung: Lepidoptera. Atlas. Wien: Carl Gerold's Sohn. See also WCP639.811, ARW to Cajetan von Felder, 20 Sep. 1865.
2
Westwood, John Obadiah (1805-1893). British entomologist and archaeologist.
3
Not found, but presumably the Austrian Zoological-Botanical Society, based in Vienna, of which ARW was later made an honorary member. See WCP5443.6155, 1 Mar. 1901, his certificate from the Society.
4
Hewitson, William Chapman (1806-1878). British naturalist, author and collector. Founding member of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne 1829.
5
ARW had been appointed to a committee reviewing the zoological nomenclature rules set up in 1842. The Alfred Russel Wallace Page/Miscellaneous Facts and Other Items: <http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/misc.htm> — [accessed 25 March 2020].
6
Crescent shaped marks, typically found in a series around the wing margins of many butterflies.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP652.824)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Saint-Smith, Lucy [2012-02-16] Transcription checked by Lucas, Paula [2020-06-09]

Please cite as “WCP652,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP652