From A. V. W. Bikkers 27 August 1874
Lewisham.
Aug: 27th. 74.
Dear Sir,
If you should still remember my name, after a lapse of 4 years, as the Editor of Professor Schleicher’s remarkable letter on your evolution theory, you will, probably, be aware of the interest I have always taken in a theory with which your name will ever be honourably connected.1
On this ground, alone, do I venture to direct your attention to a curious case of interbreeding, which, to you may be rare or not, but which seems, at any rate, to have excited the covetousness of some gentlemen from Brighton I refer to what is clearly a cross-breed between a duck and a fowl; on the grounds of Mr. Edmund Lee, Loampit Hill House, Lewisham, (a neighbour of mine) I have seen to-day two drakes and two ducks with beaks pertaining of both species, partly webbed feet and, in one case, with distinct fowl feathers. I thought it my duty to advise you of this phenomenon probably in the interest of your enquiries. Should they be worth their attention Mr. Lee would be proud to shew them to you. He does not personally seem to be very much attached to them.
Yours faithfully: | Alex V.W. Bikkers.
Charles Darwin Esqre F.R.S.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Schleicher, August. 1863. Die Darwinsche Theorie und die Sprachwissenschaft. Offenes Sendschreiben an Herrn Dr Ernst Häckel. Weimar, Germany: Hermann Böhlau.
Schleicher, August. 1869. Darwinism tested by the science of language. Translated from the German, with preface and additional notes, by Alexander V. W. Bikkers. London: John Camdem Hotten.
Summary
Reports on a crossbreed between a duck and a fowl, having duck’s beak, partly webbed feet, and fowl’s feathers.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9608
- From
- Alexander V. W Bikkers
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Lewisham
- Source of text
- DAR 160: 184
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9608,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9608.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22