From C. O. Waterhouse 19 February 1868
Brit. Mus.
Feb. 19th. 1868.
My dear Sir,
I am very sorry for the delay there has been in answering your letter but it was almost unavoidable.1 I do not know Mr. Murray’s paper on cave insects unless it be the same with the one I mentioned “On insect-vision & blind insects” (Edinb. New Philosoph. Journal. ser. 2. 1857. T. 6. p. 120 &c. fig.)2
This paper contains a list of all the cave insects. The Coleoptera are,
5 Anophthalmus (The species that I have seen are bright
polished, (somewhat pale) testaceous.)
3 Adelops3 (these are covered with fine golden pubescens which
makes them look less shining than the Anophthalmi, they are
testaceous-brown.)
1. Glyptomerus (described as being “rufo-brunneus, nitidus,
abdomine apice femoribus tibiisque posteriorbus
picescentibus”)4
1. Troglorhynchus5 (I have not yet seen a description of this)
3. Leptodirus (We do not possess this genus.)
The Brentus (or rather Taphroderes, Schönh.,) varies in length from to of an inch in the ♂—and from to of an inch in the ♀— The ♂ being small is quite exceptional—nearly all the ♂ are larger than the ♀.6
The species of the genus Taphroderes belonging to the 1st. section (four species from S. America) do not present anything particular in form of mandible.7
I believe the thoracic horns in the Lamellicorns are used in escaping from beneath the ground or from the heart of trees (as the case may be) after the metamorphoses have been undergone.8
Since I wrote last I have seen the blind beetles Leptomastax said to be found “on the sands of the Bay of Beikos”— This is pale testaceous, very bright & polished.
Also Langelandia— I do not know the habits of this— It is an exception to the general rule in being dull & coarsely punctured & fuscous. Murray says “found underground”—9
I forgot in my last letter to answer your question about Brentus— It does belong to the first group of Curculionidæ.10
Hoping you will understand this disjointed rambling, | Believe me, | Yours very sincerely, | Chas. O. Waterhouse.
Chas. Darwin Esqre.
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Murray, Andrew. 1857. On insect-vision and blind insects. Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal n.s. 6: 120–38.
Schoenherr, Carl Johann. 1833–45. Genera et species Curculionidum, cum synonymia hujus familiae. 8 vols. Paris: Roret. Leipzig: Fred. Fleischer.
Summary
Coloration of blind beetles.
Sizes of sexes in Taphroderes.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5897
- From
- Charles Owen Waterhouse
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- British Museum
- Source of text
- DAR 82: A76–7
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5897,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5897.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16