To Francisco de Arruda Furtado 31 October 1881
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
Oct 31. 1881
Dear Sir
I am extremely glad that you think that you will find Wallace’s work useful.1
The egg-cases of Blatta, (as I suppose, for I am ignorant on the subject) with their white coating are curious. I scraped off some of the white matter & placed it in Acetic Acid. It effervesced, leaving a fine residue. I suppose, therefore, that it is some kind of cement or plaister. Are you sure that the place bearing the egg-case had not been white-washed, with cement or white-wash, after the egg-cases had been affixed by the insect?2
If you can observe again similar cases, I think that the fact would be worth publishing, as a good instance of skill in protection.— I can remember no such case. I have, as usual, many letters to write, so will say no more; except to wish you continued success—
Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1876a. The geographical distribution of animals, with a study of the relations of living and extinct faunas as elucidating the past changes of the earth’s surface. 2 vols. London: Macmillan and Co.
Summary
Is glad Fd’AF will find Wallace’s work useful [see 13313].
Has examined the egg-cases of Blatta and suspects the white matter may be cement or plaster. If Fd’AF observes similar cases the fact would be worth publishing as a good instance of skill in protection.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13444
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Francisco de Arruda Furtado
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Historical Archive of the Museums of the University of Lisbon (PT/MUL/FAF/C/01/0023)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13444,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13444.xml