From Lawson Tait 26 March [1876]1
7, Great Charles St. | Birmingham.
Mar 26
My Dear Sir,
I have just made an observation which may interest you on a kitten of known parentage, both tailed cats, yet born with a characteristic Manx tail. The reason is that it has a small spina bifida, a deformity common in the human species & by no means incompatible with adult life.2
I shall work this out carefully, for we might here not only have an explanation of Manx tails but loss of tails elsewhere.
When my observation is complete I shall be glad to send you the specimen, which I intend to place in the Hunterian Museum.3
I have found a case of double thumb amputated and regrown. I shall send you the authenticated facts as soon as I have these complete.4
Yours truly | Lawson Tait
Footnotes
Bibliography
Chambers: The Chambers dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers. 1998.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Cat born tailless as a consequence of a spina bifida.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10429
- From
- Robert Lawson (Lawson) Tait
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Birmingham
- Source of text
- DAR 178: 31
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10429,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10429.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24
