From W. B. Tegetmeier [c. 26 September 1863]1
Dear Sir
Excuse this hurried note but I thought you would like to see the Enclosed from last weeks Field Newspaper.
Yours most truly | W B Tegetmeier
Do not trouble to acknowledge receipt.
[Enclosure]2
A fact for Mr Darwin—zebra-striped ass.—3 There is a grey coloured female jackass, about 15 years old, in the possession of a fruiterer in this neighbourhood, which has the four legs striped like a zebra up to the knees and hocks respectively. The stripes grow fainter behind; on the forelegs anteriorly, though not complete as in the zebra, they are very distinct and symmetrical. The muzzle and jaw, half way up to the eye, are black, and there is a broad black band at the base of each ear. All the history I could obtain about the animal was that “it came out of Suffolk,” and that it was “a rare good ’un”—this last exclamation being produced by an offer on my part to buy the skin of the animal, should it ever die, a fact which is, I suppose, somewhat problematical, as one never sees a dead ass. I opine, from the above exclamation and other “hints,” that its owner would rather I did not wait for its decease, but is quite ready to part with it now for “a consideration.”—C. R. Bree, M.D. (Colchester)4
Footnotes
Bibliography
Bree, Charles Robert. 1860. Species not transmutable, nor the result of secondary causes. Being a critical examination of Mr Darwin’s work entitled ‘Origin and variation of species’. London: Groombridge & Sons. Edinburgh: Maclachlan & Stewart.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Medical directory: The London medical directory … every physician, surgeon, and general practitioner resident in London. London: C. Mitchell. 1845. The London and provincial medical directory. London: John Churchill. 1848–60. The London & provincial medical directory, inclusive of the medical directory for Scotland, and the medical directory for Ireland, and general medical register. London: John Churchill. 1861–9. The medical directory … including the London and provincial medical directory, the medical directory for Scotland, the medical directory for Ireland. London: J. & A. Churchill. 1870–1905.
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.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Encloses a cutting from the Field: C. R. Bree on zebra-striped asses.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4314
- From
- William Bernhard Tegetmeier
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 178: 59
- Physical description
- ALS 1p encl
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4314,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4314.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11