To W. C. McIntosh 18 June 1880
Down. | Beckenham Kent
June 18th 1880.
My dear Sir
I hope that you will forgive me for troubling you with a simple question. Can you refer me to any monograph on British worms (Lumbricidæ.) by which I could find out, how many endemic species there are, and how many burrow in the earth.—1 I want further to know whether there exist any burrowing species on the grassy slopes of mountains of some considerable elevation.
I have attended a little to some of the habits of worms & intend this autumn or winter to publish an essay on the subject; & it is in this relation that I want information. My essay will be barely scientific, but the subject has amused me.— I should like to give a copy on a woodblock of the whole intestinal canal of Lumbricus:— Can you refer me to any simple figure?— Perrier in Archives. Zoolog: Exp: gives an admirable one of Urocheta, but it would be better to give (if I do give any) a drawing of Lumbricus.2
I hope that you will excuse all this trouble & I remain | My dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Earthworms: The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with observations on their habits. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1881.
Freeman, Richard Broke. 1977. The works of Charles Darwin: an annotated bibliographical handlist. 2d edition. Folkestone, Kent: William Dawson & Sons. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, Shoe String Press.
Summary
Asks for information about worms.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-12640
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Carmichael McIntosh
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 146: 351
- Physical description
- C 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12640,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12640.xml
