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Darwin Correspondence Project

From Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen   7 April 1871

Delft

7 April 1871

Dear Sir!

I am greatly indebted to you for having sent me a copy of your “Descent of Man”, and for having written in it some words, prooving, that it was the author, who gave it to me.1 I have remarked some slight errata in your book, which I will communicate you. In Vol. I, p. 196 & 99. you speak always from Catarhine and Platyrhine monkeys. Must it not be Catarrhine and Platyrrhine with two r’s.2 Vol. I p. 309, note 55 you call the minnow Leuciscus phoxinus and Vol. II Cyprinus phoxinus, would it not be better to employ only one of this names?3 Vol. I, p. 367, note. 58, line 8 is printed: Order of Longicornia, must be: Family of Longicornia;4 Vol. II, p. 274, bldz.5 23, larnyx, must be larynx; vol. II, bldz. 242, line 14 walruses, must be narwhals6 312 note 64 is printed Doublettren, must be Doubletten,7 bldz. 264, line 10 Livornia must be Livonia,8 Vol I, p. 409 et aliis locis Gonepterix must be Gonopterix).9

You would infinitely oblige me by sending me the German and French names of the various breeds of dogs mentioned in your book and the Latin name of the Emperor moth Vol. I, p. 398, line 3.10

In the “Algemeene Statistiek van Nederland, Beschrijving van den maatschappelijken Toestand van het Nederlandsche volk in het midden der negenhende eeuwt, intgegeren door de vereeniging voor de Statistiek in Nederland, Leiden, 1871, Deel II, Hoofdstuck V, VII, XII (translation: “General Statistics of the Netherlands, Description of the social condition of the Dutch people in the midst of the nineteenth century, published by the Dutch Statistical Society, Leiden, 1871, Vol. II, Chapt’s V, VII XII) I find many particularities on the proportional numbers of the two sexes (of man) in our country, which, without doubt, will interest you. Therefore I made for you the included extracts.11

Dear Sir! | Yours sincerely | Dr. H Hartogh Heys van Zouteveen

CD annotations

1.4 Catarhine] underl blue crayon
1.4 Platyrhine] underl blue crayon
1.5 Catarrhine] underl blue crayon
1.5 Platyrrhine] underl blue crayon
1.5 Vol. I … narwhals 1.9] double scored blue crayon; crossed pencil
1.6 Leuciscus phoxinus] scored blue crayon; two crosses blue crayon
1.8 OrderLongicornia;] underl pencil
1.8 23, larnyxlarynx; 1.9] underl pencil
1.11 GonepterixGonopterix).] underl blue crayon
2.1 You … line 3. 2.3] crossed blue crayon
3.1 In the … extracts. 3.9] crossed ink
Top of letter: ‘Keep for Title of Paper (Errata) xx correction number of sexes | [‘But’ del blue crayon] Proportion of sexes Legitimate & Illegitimate’ blue crayon

Footnotes

Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen’s name appears on CD’s presentation list for Descent (see Correspondence vol. 19, Appendix IV).
‘Catarrhine’ and ‘Platyrrhine’ are spelled correctly in the index to Descent, but not in the text (Descent 1: 198–201). CD did not make the correction in future printings or editions of Descent.
See Descent 2: 15. Leuciscus phoxinus and Cyprinus phoxinus are synonyms of Phoxinus phoxinus, the common minnow. CD incorporated the anecdote from Descent 2: 15 into the earlier discussion of minnows, choosing the species name Leuciscus phoxinus, when preparing Descent 2d ed.
CD corrected the footnote to read ‘family of Longicorns’ in Descent 2d ed., p. 294 n. 58.
Bldz. is an abbreviation for bladzij: page (Dutch).
CD changed ‘walrus’ to ‘narwhal’ in the third printing of Descent in April 1871 (Freeman 1877).
In Descent 1: 312 n. 64, CD misspelled ‘Doubletten’ as ‘Doublettren’; he corrected the mistake in Descent 2d ed., p. 252 n. 82.
In Descent 1: 264, CD misspelled ‘Livonia’ as ‘Livornia’. See letter from G. H. Darwin, [1–4 April 1871] and n. 2.
CD spelled the name correctly as Gonepteryx in Descent 1: 393 and 409. The variant that Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen suggested is one that was common in both Germany and France but is now considered an unjustified emendation (Natural History Museum, Butterflies and moths of the world, www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/butmoth/ (accessed 10 March 2010)).
CD’s reply has not been found. The emperor moth is now Saturnia pavonia.
The extracts have not been found.

Bibliography

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

Descent 2d ed.: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. London: John Murray. 1874.

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

Summary

On some errata in Descent.

Sends extracts from a statistical study giving proportion of sexes in [population of] Netherlands.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-7664
From
Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Delft
Source of text
DAR 88: 99
Physical description
ALS 2pp †, encl Amem 3pp †

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7664,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7664.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19

letter