From J. E. Gray 17 February 1868
BM
17 Feb 1868
My Dear Darwin
Our suspicions relate to the same person I think there can be no doubt, and is he not the great friend of John Murray, did he not induce him to take up Du Chaillu—1
I suspect the long notice in the Pall Mall is by Sclater but it wants more spirit—2
My paper on Pigs is being printed in the Proc Zool. Soc. 1868.3
I do not see that you make any observation on the colour of the Horse,4 I consider that the normal colour of the Horse, differs from that of asses in being Pomelet or coppered that is marked with round pale spots, on a dark ground, these spots are to be seen in grey Black, & bay horses indeed in all horses more or less distinctly, they look like the hammer mark on copper & hence the french & English name
I saw a dappled grey horse defined the other day as horses with round black spot, but that is a mistake the spot or at least the edge of them is lighter than the ground colour of the coat, the middle of the pale spot is sometimes as dark.
I have never observed any tendency to coppering in any species or specimens of asses5
I saw Westwood today he called the article in the Athenæum as Darwin controverted by Darwin—!!!6
Ever Yours Sincerely | J. E Gray
Have you any idea who is the A graduate of the University of Cambridge” who writes on the ‘Darwinian Theory’—7
Footnotes
Bibliography
[Beverley, Robert Mackenzie.] 1867. The Darwinian theory of the transmutation of species examined by a graduate of the University of Cambridge. London: James Nisbet & Co.
Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni. 1861. Explorations & adventures in equatorial Africa; with accounts of the manners and customs of the people, and of the chace of the gorilla, crocodile, leopard, elephant, hippopotamus, and other animals. 2d edition. London: John Murray.
Rupke, Nicolaas A. 1994. Richard Owen, Victorian naturalist. New Haven, Conn., and London: Yale University Press.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
JEG’s paper on pigs is being printed [Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. (1868): 17–49].
Colouring in horses.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5886
- From
- John Edward Gray
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- British Museum
- Source of text
- DAR 165: 217
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5886,” accessed on 30 November 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5886.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16