skip to content

Darwin Correspondence Project

To Director, Natura Artis Magistra   28 November 1868

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

Nov 28 1868

Sir

I hope you will excuse the liberty which I take in writing to you.

Mr Bartlett informs me that you breed both species of Pavo at Amsterdam,1 & he thinks that you would be so kind as to give me information on one point. It is whether the spurs in the young of Pavo muticus are developed earlier or later in life than in the young males of the Pavo cristatus.2 You will perceive that I wish to ascertain whether any relation exists between the period of the development of a part & its transmission to one sex or to both sexes.

Hoping that you will grant this favour I beg leave to remain | Sir | yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

Footnotes

CD refers to Abraham Dee Bartlett. For more on the history of the zoological gardens ‘Natura Artis Magistra’ in Amsterdam, see De Vries 1981.
CD refers to two species of peafowl: Pavo muticus, in which both sexes possess leg spurs, and P. cristatus, in which only males have spurs (see letter from J. J. Weir, 23 March 1868 and nn. 6 and 7).

Bibliography

Vries, Leonard de. 1981. Het boek van Artis. Utrecht/Aartselaar: A. W. Bruna & Zoon.

Summary

Asks whether the spurs in the young of Pavo muticus are developed earlier or later in life than in the young males of Pavo cristatus.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-6484F
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Natura Artis Magistra (Artis).
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Stadsarchief Amsterdam (395: 614)
Physical description
LS 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6484F,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6484F.xml

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

letter