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Darwin Correspondence Project

To H. M. Wallis   31 March 1881

Down | Beckenham, Kent | Railway Station | Orpington, S.E.R.

March 31. 1881

Dear Sir,

I am much obliged for your interesting letter—1 I am glad to hear that you are looking to other ears, & will visit the Zool.g. Gardens— Under these circumstances it would be incomparably better (as more authentic) if you would publish a notice of your observations in Nature or some scientific journal.2 Would it not be well to confine your attention to infants, as more likely to retain any primordial character, and offering less difficulty in observing.

I think though it wd. be worth while to observe whether there is any relation (though probably none) between much hairiness on the ears of an infant and the presence of the “tip” on the folded margin.3 Could you not get an accurate sketch of the direction of the hair of the tip of an ear?

The fact which you communicate about the Goat. Sucker is very curious.4 About the difference in the power of flight in Dorkings &c may it not be due merely to greater weight of body in the adults?5

I am so old that I am not likely ever again to write on general & difficult points in the theory of Evolution.

I shall use what little strength is left me for more confined & easy subjects.

Pray believe me with all good wishes, Dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

Footnotes

In an earlier letter, CD asked whether he might communicate Wallis’s observation on ears to a journal like Nature (letter to H. M. Wallis, 22 March 1881).
See letter from H. M. Wallis, 27 March 1881 and n. 3; Wallis referred to the goatsucker by its other common name, the nightjar.
Wallis had compared the flying ability of young and mature fowls of various breeds, such as Dorking and Hambro (or Hamburg); see letter from H. M. Wallis, 27 March 1881).

Summary

Encourages HMW’s study of growth of hair on ears. Recommends he publish findings in Nature.

Comments on facts about goatsucker and dorkings.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-13102
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Henry Marriage Wallis
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 148: 280
Physical description
C 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13102,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13102.xml

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