WCP653

Letter (WCP653.825)

[1]

5, Westbourne Grove Terrace, W.

May 12th. 1864

My dear Sir

I have today received from Messrs Williams & Norgate1 the very beautiful plates of Lepidoptera which you were so good as to send me & for which I beg to thank you very much.2 They are indeed magnificent & if completed to the number you mention will form a noble work.

I have lately completed the examination of my Papilionidae [2] & have described all the new species which I possess. The Linnaean Society will publish my paper & will illustrate it with plates in which will be figured about 16 new species.3

Pap[ilio].4 nicanor which you have just figured, I was going to figure but shall not now.

It will be ready I think about the end of this year & I shall have much pleasure in sending you a copy.

What is the habitat of the curious Pap. pegasus. Feld which you figure? [3] I have endeavoured to shew in my paper that several Papilios have 2. 3 or even 4 distinct forms of female. Pap. romulus I consider one of the female forms of P. pammon. — Pap. theseus[,] P. polytes var[iety]. (Java.) and P. melanides, three female forms of a species allied to P. pammon confined to the islands & which I call P. theseus. Fab.

So P. rumanzovia Eschsch. will be a 2nd. female form of P. emalthion, and I have 3 female forms to Pap. ormenus.

Pap. vollenhovii. Feld is another of which I should like to know the locality.

[4] As my paper will not be published for so long I send you herewith a copy of the "Reader" newspaper which contains an abstract of the introductory part of my paper & which may perhaps interest you5.

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

Dr. Felder.

1
Publishers and book importers based in London and Edinburgh.
2
Possibly some of the plates later published in 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 WCP652.824, ARW to Cajetan von Felder 11 Dec. 1863, and WCP639.811, ARW to Felder, 20 Sep. 1865.
3
Wallace, A. R. 1865 [1864]. On the Phenomena of Variation and Geographical Distribution as Illustrated by the Papilionidae of the Malayan region. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 25: 1-71.
4
All the species named are butterflies or moths. ARW uses the abbreviation "Pap." or "P." for the genus Papilio throughout.
5
Wallace, A. R. 1864. Mr. Wallace on the Phenomena of Variation and Geographical Distribution as Illustrated by the Malayan Papilionidae. The Reader. 3: 491b-493b.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP653.825)]

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Revision history

Transcribed by Szentgyorgyi, Katherine [2012-09-17] Transcription checked by Lucas, Paula [2020-06-09]

Please cite as “WCP653,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP653