To Benjamin Dann Walsh 3 April [1869]1
Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.
April 3d.
My dear Sir
I have received your kind letter of March 12th & the 3 numbers of the Amer. Entomologist.—2
I am very glad that you have proved your case about the dimorphism of the Cynips.—3 I will send by this Post the specimens to Fred. Smith of Brit. Museum,4 either for his private or the public collection as he may think best.—
What an admirable Journal your new one is: I have read two numbers, but not as yet that on Wasps,5 but I shall begin it this evening.— Nothing in my opinion can be better than the two articles on Galls & the Cicadas. That is a most perplexing case about the 2 forms of the Cicadas.—6 The galls interest me much, not so much as galls, but as a proof what organic changes extraneous matter can cause.—7 There are numbers of curious facts, for example the sterility of the Hateful Grasshopper.—8
I will not so much trespass on your kindness as to accept the rare back numbers; but if you publish anything which you think would interest me (& you can judge almost as well as I can myself) I shd. be grateful for an odd number.—9
My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin
P.S. I have just finished your Wasp paper—10 it is capital very interesting & very amusing.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Lockwood, Jeffrey Alan. 2004. Locust: the devastating rise and mysterious disappearance of the insect that shaped the American frontier. New York: Basic Books.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Glad BDW has proved his case on dimorphism of Cynips.
Interested in galls
and BDW’s Cicada articles [Proc. Entomol. Soc. Philadelphia (1864)].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5482
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Benjamin Dann Walsh
- Sent from
- Down
- Postmark
- London | Ap 5 | 69
- Source of text
- Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (Walsh 17)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5482,” accessed on 27 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5482.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17