To Philip Lutley Sclater 4 March [1861]
Down Bromley Kent
March 4th
My dear Mr Sclater
You told me that I might have one of the Russian Rabbits to skeletonise (which Rabbits, both Bucks, I sent to Gardens).1 Will you be so good as to give order to have one killed by throat being cut, especially not knocked on Head, & sent by address on next page.—2
I signed your certificate the other day at Royal Socy.3
I see there has been paper on skeleton of Hybrid Hare-Rabbit,4 as I am now working at Skeletons of Rabbits, I shd. like to see this notice, if you chance to have spare proof.—
Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Crisp, Edwards. 1861. On some points relating to the habits and anatomy of the oceanic and of the freshwater ducks, and also of the hare (Lepus timidus) and of the rabbit (L. cuniculus), in relation to the question of hybridism. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1861): 82–7.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Asks for a rabbit specimen;
inquires about a hybrid hare–rabbit.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3080
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Philip Lutley Sclater
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.239)
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3080,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3080.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 9