From R. I. Thompson 27 April 1871
London & Provincial Bank | Portsea
27 April 1871
Dear Sir
‘Descent of Man’ page 44.
In confirmation of your friends statement I beg to inform you that I have a dog of 13 years of age mixed breed or mongrel, which I brought with me from Australia—1 when quite young he played with a cat & her kittens and from them acquired the habit of licking his feet and cleaning his face which habit he still retains.— I have also noticed other habits such as running round and round after his tail sometimes with the end of it in his mouth, which he evidently imitated from them
I am Dear Sir | Your most obd. Servant | R I Thompson
Charles Darwin Esq M.A. F.R.S. | &c &c &c
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
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
About a dog that acquired habits from a cat and her kittens.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7722
- From
- Ralph Ingham Thompson
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Portsea
- Source of text
- DAR 87: 113–14
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7722,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7722.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19
