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Darwin Correspondence Project

To August Weismann   10 November 1879

Down, Beckenham, Kent.

Nov. 10th. 1879

My dear Sir

I am very much obliged for your kind present of your work on Daphniæ with its admirable drawings & for your letter.1 As soon as I can find time, (for I have two essays in German to read which bear on my immediate work) I will assuredly read your book, for there is to me always an extreme interest in hearing of adaptations in parts which appear to owe their structure to other causes.

The nature of the Vanessa in Northern Siberia must have been particularly interesting & satisfactory to you.—2 I have not heard for a long time from Mr. Meldola & do not know how the translation of your work goes on.3 He has unfortunately very little spare time.—

It is almost impossible to persuade English publishers to bring out translations of any scientific works, excepting such as bear on education; but I will not forget your wish, in which I heartily join, should any opportunity ever offer.

With all good wishes, pray believe me | My dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

Footnotes

1
Weismann’s letter has not been found. His book Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte der Daphnoiden (Contributions to the natural history of daphnoids) is in the Darwin Library–CUL (Weismann 1879). Most parts of the book first appeared as a series of articles (Weismann 1876–80), copies of which are in the Darwin Library and Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. Weismann’s group ‘daphnoids’ included genera now placed in the suborder Cladocera (water fleas), and the related suborder Laevicaudata of the order Diplostraca.
2
Vanessa is a genus of brush-footed butterflies. In his essay on seasonal dimorphism in butterflies, Weismann hypothesised that the early form of Vanessa levana (a synonym of Araschnia levana, the map butterfly) was the original type and had noted that it would be interesting to determine whether in high northern latitudes like Siberia two generations of the butterfly occurred, or only one (Weismann 1875–6, 1: 14–15 n. 1). By the time the English translation appeared, Weismann’s question had been answered; a Swedish expedition in 1876 to the Yenisei river region of Siberia found that only the early form of the butterfly existed there (Weismann 1880–2 1: 19–21 n. 15).
3
Meldola was working on a translation of August Weismann’s Studien zur Descendenz-Theorie (Studies in the theory of descent; Weismann 1875–6). The translation (Weismann 1880–2) was published by Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington. See letters from Raphael Meldola, 6 February 1879 and 4 April 1879.

Bibliography

Weismann, August. 1875–6. Studien zur Descendenz-Theorie. 2 vols. I. Ueber den Saison-Dimorphismus der Schmetterlinge; II. Ueber die letzten Ursachen der Transmutationen. 1. Die Entstehung der Zeichnung bei den Schmetterlings-Raupen, 2. Ueber den phyletischen Parallelismus bei metamorphischen Arten, 3. Ueber die Umwandlung des mexikanischen Axolotl in ein Amblystoma, 4. Ueber die mechanische Auffassung der Natur. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann.

Weismann, August. 1876–80. Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte der Daphnoiden. Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie 27 (1876): 51–112; 28 (1877): 93–254; 30 (suppl. 1878): 123–65; 33 (1880): 55–270.

Weismann, August. 1879. Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte der Daphnoiden. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann.

Weismann, August. 1880–2. Studies in the theory of descent. Translated by Raphael Meldola. 3 parts. Part I (1880): On the seasonal dimorphism of butterflies. Part II (1881): The origin of the markings of caterpillars. On phyletic parallelism in metamorphic species. Part III (1882): The transformation of the Mexican axolotl into amblystoma. On the mechanical conception of nature. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington.

Summary

Thanks for AW’s work ["Zur Naturgeschichte der Daphniden", Z. Wiss. Zool. 27: 51–112; 28: 93–254; 30 (suppl.): 123–65; 33: 55–270]. CD always interested in adaptations which appear to owe their structure to other causes.

Has not heard from Raphael Meldola for a long time about translation of AW’s Studien.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-12303
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Leopold Friedrich August (August) Weismann
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Shrewsbury School, Taylor Library
Physical description
ALS 4pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12303,” accessed on 5 June 2025, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12303.xml

letter

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