From G. R. Waterhouse [1839 – 10 February 1840]1
My dear Darwin
I herewith send you Blackwalls book,2 I have not been so much pleased with it as I expected I should, from parts which I had read when I saw you— there is not a little twaddle* about it—it is nevertheless interesting & worth reading—very likely I can’t appreciate it
faithfully yours | Geo R Waterhouse Tuesday night
*book making
P.S. I’ll be bound if there are any marsupials in Java or Sumatra, I see that Temminck3 (who by the bye expects some will be found in those islands) expressly denies that any of the Cuscuses (species forming a subdivision of Phalangista) are found, as has been stated, in Java— The only one he has given the locality of Java to is a species found at van Dieman’s land and Port Jackson— now it so happens that all the Phalangistas as yet found in the islands to the North of Australia belong to a different division of the group4 —a group remarkable, among other characters, for a peculiarly wooly frizzled (I think that is a new word) fur—like a black man’s head—and no doubt serves to keep off the hot tropical sun— there is I am sure some mistake— Judging from the Zoological Productions you may depend upon it Java and Sumatra are India— I have got plenty of Java Birds and several quadrupeds from Singapore—and New Guinea—most probably the Moluccas, Celebes, Banda & Amboina are Australia, at least they have a strong smell of that Continent— I say this to call your attention to the matter in a Geological point of view—
I hope to goodness you are better5 —and I hope all goes on well
Footnotes
Bibliography
Blackwall, John. 1834. Researches in zoology, illustrative of the manners and economy of animals. London.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Notebook C. See de Beer 1960; de Beer and Rowlands 1961; de Beer, Rowlands, and Skramovsky 1967; Notebooks.
Temminck, Coenraad Jacob. 1827–41. Monographies de mammalogie, ou description de quelques genres de mammifères, dont les espèces ont été observées dans les différens musées de l’Europe. 2 vols. Paris and Amsterdam (vol. 1); Leiden (vol. 2).
Vorzimmer, Peter J. 1977. The Darwin reading notebooks (1838-1860). Journal of the History of Biology 10: 107–53.
Summary
Sends John Blackwall’s book [Researches in zoology (1834)]. Discusses his reasons for doubting that there are any marsupials in Java or Sumatra.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-475
- From
- George Robert Waterhouse
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 205.3: 295
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 475,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-475.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 2