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Darwin Correspondence Project

To John Dean Caton   20 March 1869

Down Bromley Kent. S.E.

March 20 1869.

Dear Sir

Your former kindness leads me to think that you will excuse me asking you two or three questions—1

In books of Nat Hist the male of the Elk or Wapiti is said to be darker colored than the female; if this is the case is he darker in his winter or breeding dress, or during the Summer?2

Is it possible that you could enquire for me from any hunters who have had much experience with the American bison, whether the thick mane of the bull protects him in his battles with other bulls? This might possibly be known to witnesses of their contests or by the position of scars from old wounds. Lastly, though it is very unlikely that you should be able to answer me, Do the females of any of the deer which you have kept show a preference for one male over another?3 I have lately felt much perplexed & have made enquiries from those who have closely observed deer in England what is the meaning of the terminal branches of the horns, for a single point would be a more effectual weapon?4

I have lately been making much use of, and & quoting yr most interesting paper—5

Pray believe me dear Sir | Yours faithfully & obliged | Charles Darwin.

Footnotes

Caton’s offprint of his paper, ‘American Cervus’ (Caton 1868) had been forwarded to CD, and Caton later replied to CD’s questions (see Correspondence vol. 16, letter to J. D. Caton, 18 September 1868, and letter from J. D. Caton, 2 [October] 1868). CD’s annotated copy of Caton 1868 is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. The paper was also published in Caton 1880, pp. 146–75.
Caton discussed the elk or wapiti (Cervus canadensis) in Caton 1868.
Caton kept ‘Virginia deer’ (Cervus virginianus; now Odocoileus virginianus, white-tailed deer) on his property in Illinois; he included his observations of the deer in Caton 1868.
No letter from CD requesting information on terminal branches of horns has been found, but see the letter from George Cupples, 15 January 1869, and the letter from Archibald McNeill, 24 January 1869.
For CD’s references to Caton 1868, see Descent 1: 288, 2: 245, 253, 282, 288, and 290.

Bibliography

Caton, John Dean. 1868. American Cervus. Read before the Ottawa Academy of Natural Sciences, 21 May 1868. Ottawa, Illinois: Osman and Hapeman.

Caton, John Dean. 1880. Miscellanies. Boston: Houghton, Osgood.

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

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

Summary

Asks about coat colour of elk,

the mane of American bison,

and about sexual preferences of female deer.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-6674
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
John Dean Caton
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 143: 254
Physical description
C 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6674,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6674.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17

letter