WCP795

Letter (WCP795.967)

[1]

Waldron Edge, Duppas Hill, Croydon

Dec[embe]r 6th 1879

My dear Wright

I have had your "Animal Life" sent me to review for "Nature". You will see that I have said what I could for it, but I was obliged to criticise some of the figures. I suppose you had a lot of illustrations to work in. Most of them are good but some very bad, and I send you the following list of wrongly named figures.

Macacus cynomolgus1. The figure is certainly not this species. I think it is Presbytis Entellus

Saiga tartarica2 [sic]. The figure is of Oryx leucoryx3

Accentor modularis. The figure is a finch not a warbler.

Sun-birds. The figure represents two humming birds!

[2] Java sparrow — Some other bird; — quite unrecognisable.

Parra jacana4 — Is the Hydrophasianus sinensis5

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Others of the small birds are not recognisable such as the Stone-Chat, Dipper & Chaffinch. Perhaps the publishers will get better figures of these, as the book is really worth it, and birds always attract attention.

I am obliged to send the book back to "Nature" — I suppose Lockyer wants it for his children, — so if Mess[e]rs. Cassell think my review worth it they can send me a copy.

It must have cost you an immense deal of labour.

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

[3] Note [one word illegible]

Tailor bird— culled Shotonues[?] it sh[oul]d be Orthotonuis[?]

Macacus cynomolgus is a species of long-tailed ape
Siga tatarica is a species of antelope
Oryx leucoryx is the binomial name for the Arabian Oryx
Parra jacana is a species of bird
Hydrophasianus sinensis is now known as Hydrophasianus chirurgus and is the binomial name for the Pheasant-tailed jacana.

Please cite as “WCP795,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 27 July 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP795