To J. J. Weir 29 December 1881
Down, Beckenham.
Dec. 29, 1881.
My dear Sir
I thank you for your “Christmas Card”, and heartily return your good wishes.1 What you say about the coats of mules is new to me, as is the statement about hermaphroditism in hybrid moths.2 This latter fact seems to me particularly curious; and to make a very wild hypothesis I should be inclined to account for it by reversion to the primordial condition of the two sexes being united; for I think it certain that hybridism does lead to reversion.3
I keep fairly well, but have not much strength, and feel very old.
My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Charles Darwin.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Comments on JJW’s observations on mule
and hermaphroditism in hybrid moths.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13587
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John Jenner Weir
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 148: 340
- Physical description
- C 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13587,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13587.xml