To Frederick Smith 29 April [1859]1
Down Bromley Kent
Ap. 29th
My dear Sir
Would you be so kind as to tell me whether you ever saw, the Slaves in the nests of F. sanguinea, go out in search of food or materials for their nest— I never did; but then there were but few slaves, when I watched for long hours.—2
Huber asserts that they do, & more especially in the morning.3 I think (?) you told me that you had not seen them go out & that you considered them household slaves.4
Have you watched the colonies of F. sanguinea pretty often, & if you have not seen the slaves go foraging, will you permit me to quote you in support of what I have never seen, after many hours on many days observation.
The suspicion crosses me that Huber’s F. sanguinea (Pl. 2 fig 5, 6 & 7) may be a closely allied, but different, species from ours: I see you do not give this reference to Huber.—5
Pray forgive my troubling you, & kindly oblige me with an answer.— | Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin
Please to thank Mr | G. R. Gray | for his note to me.6
Footnotes
Bibliography
Huber, Pierre. 1810. Recherches sur les mœurs des fourmis indigènes. Paris and Geneva: J. J. Paschoud.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Smith, Frederick. 1854. Essay on the genera and species of British Formicidæ. [Read 4 December 1854.] Transactions of the Entomological Society of London n.s. 3 (1854–6): 95–135.
Summary
Has FS observed the slaves of Formica sanguinea foraging outside the nest.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2455F
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Frederick Smith
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Natural History Museum, Library and Archive (General Special Collections DC AL 1/22)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2455F,” accessed on 26 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2455F.xml