To August Weismann [17 June 1876 or later]1
Down, Beckenham, Kent
My dear Sir
If you can render sexual selection probable in the case of Daphnia it will be very interesting, especially under the complex circumstances to which you refer.2 Mr. Wallace has recently published an article wholly giving up sexual selection, but on grounds which seem to me extremely weak.3 I am sorry to say that I cannot give you the reference to M. Bert’s observations; but I remember thinking them quite authentic, and knowing what a good authority M. Bert is, did not hesitate to quote them. I suppose that I either saw an extract in a Journal, or received a copy of his paper without any reference as to where it was published, which has often happened.4
I send by this post the first number of Mr. Wilson’s work, pray do not return it at present, and whenever the second number is published I will send it if you care to see it.5
Believe me with much respect | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Bert, Paul. 1869. Sur la question de savoir si tous les animaux voient les mêmes rayons lumineux que nous. Archives de physiologie normale et pathologique 2: 547–54.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Marginalia: Charles Darwin’s marginalia. Edited by Mario A. Di Gregorio with the assistance of Nicholas W. Gill. Vol. 1. New York and London: Garland Publishing. 1990.
Weismann, August. 1876–80. Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte der Daphnoiden. Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie 27 (1876): 51–112; 28 (1877): 93–254; 30 (suppl. 1878): 123–65; 33 (1880): 55–270.
Weismann, August. 1879. Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte der Daphnoiden. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann.
Summary
Comments on Weismann’s remarks on the possibility of sexual selection in the genus Daphnia.
A. R. Wallace has published paper giving up sexual selection [Review of St George Jackson Mivart’s Lessons from nature, as manifested in mind and matter.] in Academy, 10 and 17 June 1876, pp. 587–8.]
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10335
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Leopold Friedrich August (August) Weismann
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 148: 346
- Physical description
- C 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10335,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10335.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24