From H. C. Watson 13 August 1855
Summary
Is having difficulties marking close species on the list of British plants.
In all his attempts to advance geographical botany he is stopped by the "application and signification of the word ""species"" " the use of which is both "indefinite and variable". He encloses his list of "Categories of Species".
Author: | Hewett Cottrell Watson |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 13 Aug 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A5–A6, DAR 9: 15A |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1740 |
To J. D. Hooker 14 [August 1855]
Summary
When JDH goes to Germany, will he ask seed men if their marvellous true breeding lines are the result of selection.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 14 [Aug 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 114: 145 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1741 |
To J. D. Hooker 18 [October 1855]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 18 [Oct 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 114: 146 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1742 |
From H. C. Watson 17 August 1855
Summary
Sends a catalogue of plants [missing] with the close species marked.
Author: | Hewett Cottrell Watson |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 17 Aug 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 181: 28 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1743 |
To the Council of the Royal Society 18 August 1855
Summary
Recommends publication of W. B. Carpenter’s paper on Orbitolites [Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 146 (1856): 181–236]. Discusses style and the cost of the plates.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Council of the Royal Society |
Date: | 18 Aug 1855 |
Classmark: | The Royal Society (RR3: 38) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1744 |
To W. D. Fox 22 August [1855]
Summary
Reports on his collection of skeletons of young and adults of various breeds of fowls and specimens still needed.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
Date: | 22 Aug [1855] |
Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 94a) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1745 |
From Edward Blyth 22–3 August 1855
Summary
Gives extracts from a letter by Thomas Hutton.
Rabbits are kept (generally by Europeans) in the NW. provinces and breed freely. Canaries are not well adapted to the climate. Reports on domestic cats and pigeons of the area. EB gives references to further information on cats, pigeons, and silkworms.
[CD’s notes are an abstract of this letter.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 22–3 Aug 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A79–A84 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1746 |
From H. C. Watson 23 August 1855
Summary
Close species in large and small genera.
Artificiality of botanical classification.
Author: | Hewett Cottrell Watson |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 23 Aug 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 181: 29 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1747 |
To J. S. Henslow 23 [August or September 1855]
Summary
Asks JSH to identify an umbellifer.
Describes his efforts to compare number of seeds of wild and cultivated plants.
Asks that more wild celery be collected and seeds counted. Seeks to verify whether "most typical form produces most seed" and whether cultivation lessens fertility.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
Date: | 23 [Aug or Sept] 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 93: A112–13 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1748 |
To Asa Gray 24 August [1855]
Summary
"Close" species in large and small genera.
Alphonse de Candolle on geographical distribution [Géographie botanique raisonnée (1855)].
Species variability.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 24 Aug [1855] |
Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (10) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1749 |
To H. C. Watson [26 August 1855]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Hewett Cottrell Watson |
Date: | [26 Aug 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 185: 53 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1750 |
To William Bernhard Tegetmeier 31 August [1855]
Summary
Thanks for WBT’s offer to supply carcasses of good poultry breeds. Encloses list [missing] of birds in which he is interested.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
Date: | 31 Aug [1855] |
Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1751 |
From Edward Blyth 7 September [1855]
Summary
Comments on the ease with which different species of Felis can be tamed.
Asian species of wild cattle.
Variation in colour of jackals.
Discusses the difficulties of differentiating between varieties and species. EB recommends Herman Schlegel’s definition of species [in Essay on the physiognomy of serpents, trans. T. S. Traill (1843)]. Problems of defining species of wolves and squirrels. Pigeons and doves afford an illustration of "clusters of species, varieties, or races". Various pigeons have local species in different parts of India and Burma, some of which interbreed where their ranges cross; as do the local species of Coracias [see Natural selection, p. 259].
[CD’s notes are an abstract of this memorandum.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 7 Sept [1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A51–5 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1752 |
To Henry Allen Wedgwood 5 September [1855]
Summary
Thanks HAW for columbine and asparagus seeds and for counting pods for him. CD is astonished at the number of pods. Needs more seeds for one of his experiments.
Has he met Huxley yet? He is a very clever man.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Henry Allen (Harry) Wedgwood |
Date: | 5 Sept [1855] |
Classmark: | Oxford University Museum of Natural History (Hope Entomological collections) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1753 |
To W. B. Tegetmeier [13 September 1855]
Summary
Would welcome any distinct breed of poultry and would be glad to have any good pigeons.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
Date: | [13 Sept 1855] |
Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1754 |
From Edward Blyth [22 September 1855]
Summary
Gives extract from a letter from Capt. R. Tickell: rabbits are not bred by the Burmese; common European and Chinese geese are bred but have probably only recently been introduced.
EB gives references to works illustrating the dog-like instinct of N. American wolves.
Discusses reason and instinct; ascribes both to man and animals. Comments on various instincts, e. g. homing, migratory, parental, constructive, and defensive. Reasoning in animals; cattle learning to overcome fear of passing trains.
Hybrid sterility as an indication of distinct species. Interbreeding as an indication of common parentage.
Enlarges upon details given by J. C. Prichard [in The natural history of man (1843)].
Adaptation of the two-humped camel to cold climates. Camel hybrids.
Doubts that domestic fowl or fancy pigeons have ever reverted to the wild.
Feral horses and cattle of S. America.
Believes the "creole pullets" to be a case of inaccurate description.
Variations in skulls between species of wild boar.
Pigs are so prolific that the species might be expected to cross.
Milk production of cows and goats.
Sheep and goats of lower Bengal.
Indian breeds of horses.
Variation in Asiatic elephants.
Spread of American tropical and subtropical plants in the East.
EB distinguishes between races and artificially-produced breeds.
[CD’s notes are an abstract of this memorandum.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [22 Sept 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A85–A92 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1755 |
From John Rice Crowe 27 September 1855
Author: | John Rice Crowe |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 27 Sept 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 205.2: 222 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1756 |
To T. H. Huxley 29 [September 1855]
Summary
Responds to THH’s questioning of his observations on cirripede anatomy with extensive discussion of what he observed. Admits his elementary knowledge of microscopical structures but seriously doubts he has erred. Cement glands, ovarian tubes, etc.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
Date: | 29 [Sept 1855] |
Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 21); Janet Huxley (private collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1757 |
From H. C. Watson 2 October 1855
Summary
Expresses his general opinion on the relative closeness of species in large and small genera. Warns that the size of a genus is dependent upon the locality and extent of the flora studied, that definitions of close species are not consistent, and that peculiarities of botanical classification will influence any attempt to assess the comparative closeness of species in different genera.
Author: | Hewett Cottrell Watson |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 2 Oct 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 181: 30 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1758 |
To T. H. Huxley 3 [September 1855]
Summary
Approves drawing. No one who cannot draw should attempt to be a naturalist. Suggests corrections to [Lepas?] drawing. Comments on position of ganglia, cement glands, and stomach.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
Date: | 3 [Sept 1855] |
Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 18) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1759 |
letter | (189) |
Darwin, C. R. | (140) |
Blyth, Edward | (12) |
Watson, H. C. | (7) |
Hooker, J. D. | (4) |
Davy, John | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (49) |
Hooker, J. D. | (28) |
Henslow, J. S. | (17) |
Fox, W. D. | (12) |
Gardeners’ Chronicle | (10) |