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Darwin Correspondence Project

To H. W. Bates   21 May [1868]1

Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.

May 21

My dear Bates

Cordial thanks.—

You must not hurry yourself. You understand that I always want male & female.2

I shd like

Typhœus3 English species

Copris (not English sp.)

Geotrupes 2 sp.

Onitis

4 or 5 or 6 other genera, some differing much, some differing little according to sex. in external appearance

I heard in Chile Chiasognathus Grantii squeaking loudly so I wd gladly pay £1 for a pr, if they can be bought: I brought home a dozen sps. but gave them all away.4

If the beetles do not come named, & they prove interesting, I dare say you cd put me up to getting them named.

Will you pay Mr Janson for me?5 or ask him to send me a mem.? any how I shd like his address so that I might apply for more specimens if the result proves interesting, which I don’t expect.

Should you be able to come down the early part of next month & spend the Sunday here; it wd give us very great pleasure to see you & it wd make it pleasant to Mr Jenner Weir6 who has been extraordinarily kind & whom I want to invite here.

With many thanks | yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin

We cd send to station on Saturday evening & on the Monday Morning.

Footnotes

The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from H. W. Bates, 20 May 1868.
Typhaeus, a dung beetle. In Descent, both spellings appear.
CD refers to Chiasognathus granti. See Descent 1: 377, p. 403, Correspondence vol. 1, letter to J. S. Henslow, 24 July – 7 November 1834 and n. 11, and R. D. Keynes 2000. The specimen of C. granti collected by CD in Chile is at the Natural History Museum in London.

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.

Keynes, Richard Darwin, ed. 2000. Charles Darwin’s zoology notes & specimen lists from H.M.S. Beagle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Summary

Lists specimens he wants from Mr Janson, emphasising that he always wants male and female.

He extends an invitation for a Sunday in early June.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-6195
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Henry Walter Bates
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection)
Physical description
LS(A) 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6195,” accessed on 25 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6195.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16

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