From H. C. Watson 3 January 1858
Thames Ditton | Kingston— Surrey. S.W.
Jany 3. 1858
My dear Sir
It seems hardly worth while to trouble you with the remark drawn forth by your own,—that I do not recollect any definite opinion or statement, as a general view or real generalisation, that both varieties are more restricted in their areas,or have different areas from their (presumed) type species.—1 A running notion seems to pervade botanical works to this effect. For instance, a botanist will argue that two forms are two distinct species, because they occur intermingled, & are thus proved not to be vars. consequent on situation. Almost always, too, botanists treat vars. as rarer than their alleged species or type forms. And here & there remarks are made, that such a form is a vary. caused by difference of situation.
You seem to expect something from the concluding volume of Cybele,2 —& will thus be disappointed. It will simply be like a block of stone, cut & fashioned in a particular manner, but by itself of little or no use;—yet adapted to constitute part of an edifice where other blocks are prepared in like manner, to be built up along with it. I can in some measure see or guess what ought to be done,—but am unable to do it, because the like materials do not elsewhere exist, for comparison & generalisation.
Very truly | Hewett C. Watson3
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Watson, Hewett Cottrell. 1847–59. Cybele Britannica; or British plants and their geographical relations. 4 vols. London: Longman.
Summary
Discusses the ranges and distribution of varieties relative to the type species.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2199
- From
- Hewett Cottrell Watson
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Thames Ditton
- Source of text
- DAR 98: A19–20
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp inc †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2199,” accessed on 1 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2199.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 7