From J. E. Gray 15 February 1868
BM
15 Feb 1868
My Dear Darwin
I think one can discern the “Noble Roman hand” of the great friend of John Murray, in the slashing article on the Variation of Species in the Athenæum of this date—1
Thanks for the sight of Nathusius2 it does not come up to my expectation
I want to know why the short thin legged heavy bodied pig is called chinese or Indian as Nathusius regards it I have not been able to discover3 Buffon described a long legged bristly Pig as a Siam Pig4 and Schreber confuses it with the Berkshire breed & calls it S Scrofa domesticus Sinensis.—5
Swinhoe thought the Chinese Pig was the tame Sus leucomystax 6 Natusius thinks S. leucomystax a variety of the Common Domestic Pig7
If Nathusius had examined the series of skull of Wild Pig we have in the BM he would not have formed such theories the Wild Boar of India & asiatic Island have not wider Palates than the European ones.—8
But certain tame breed have an inclination to get wide palate “that is their deformity or malady”—as the Reviewer would say9 I observed that in the PZS when I described Sus Pliciceps which is no doubt a Tame Pig, with the skull in many respects like Potamochœrus10 Margrave says Potamochœrus was introduced from Africa to Brazil I am assured it is not there now.11 Nathusius refers to it he anticipated my observation that it is Sus Porcus of Linn S N. Ed 12 yet Du Chaillu persisted it was a new species he discovered12
Ever yours sincerely | J E Gray
I sent Nathusius by the Post
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Du Chaillu, Paul. 1860. [Five new species of mammals in western equatorial Africa.] [Read 6 June 1860.] Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 7 (1859–61): 296–304.
Linnaeus, Carolus (Carl von Linné). 1766–8. Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. 12th edition. 3 vols. Stockholm: Laurentius Salvius.
Marginalia: Charles Darwin’s marginalia. Edited by Mario A. Di Gregorio with the assistance of Nicholas W. Gill. Vol. 1. New York and London: Garland Publishing. 1990.
Nathusius, Hermann von. 1864. Vorstudien für Geschichte und Zucht der Hausthiere zunächst am Schweineschädel. 1 vol. and atlas. Berlin: Wiegandt und Hempel.
Oliver, William L. R. ed. 1993. Pigs, peccaries, and hippos: status survey and conservation action plan. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.
Schreber, Johann Christian Daniel von. 1778–1846. Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen. Continued by Johann Andreas Wagner. 7 vols. Erlangen: Expedition des Schreber’schen säugthier- und des Esper’schen schmetterlingswerkes.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Slashing article on Variation in Athenæum.
Discussion of relationships of various pigs.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5880
- From
- John Edward Gray
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- British Museum
- Source of text
- DAR 165: 216
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5880,” accessed on 7 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5880.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16