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Darwin Correspondence Project

From Francisco de Arruda Furtado1   22 October 1881

Ile St. Michel (Açores)

22 Octobre 1881

Mr. Charles Darwin

Monsieur

Je vous ai déjà écrit par ce paquebot mais je vous écris de nouveau pour vous annoncer l’envoi d’une petite découverte dont je ne suis pas en mesure de apprécier la valeur.2 J’ai remarqué ces œufs de l’orthoptère très commun dans nos cuisines et que nous appellons barata, déposés sur le visage et le corps de deux statuettes en craie.3 Ce qui m’a frappé c’est que ses cotés libres étaient recouverts de craie (comme j’espère qu’ils vous arriveront) sans doute machée et appliquée avec soin sur toute la surface libre par les mandibules de l’animal. Si cela est une chose intéressante liée aux faits éloquents de l’instinct, si le procédé employé par l’insecte est probablement pour dérober le germe de sa progéniture à des yeux ravageurs, pour lui donner plus de prise ou pour eviter les effets pernicieux de la lumière; voilà des questions que j’ai l’honneur de soumettre respectueusement à votre considération, s’il ne s’agit d’un fait peut être connu de tous les naturalistes et sans importance.

Je suis peut être bien indiscret en vous causant toutes ces dérangements, aussi, j’éspère que vous serez indulgent pour moi et je vous prie d’agréer, &c.

A. Furtado

Footnotes

For a translation of this letter, see Appendix I.
Barata: cockroach (Portuguese). Cockroaches were formerly classified within the order Orthoptera (grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets), but are now placed within the order Blattodea (cockroaches and termites). They typically lay a single egg case (ootheca) containing several individual eggs, which may be glued to a surface like a wall.

Translation

From Francisco de Arruda Furtado1   22 October 1881

San Miguel Island (Azores)

22 October 1881

Mr. Charles Darwin

Sir

I have already written to you by the mail steamer but I write to you again to advise you of a little discovery whose importance I am not in a position to appreciate.2 I noticed the eggs of an Orthoptera very common in our kitchens and which we call barata, laid on the face and body of two chalk statuettes.3 What struck me is that the free sides were covered in chalk (as, I hope, they will be when they reach you) without doubt chewed and applied with care on all the bare surface by the mandibles of the creature. Whether that is of interest in connection with the eloquent facts about instinct, whether the procedure employed by the insect is probably for hiding the development of its progeny from predatory eyes, to give it more hold or to avoid the pernicious effects of light; those are the questions that I have the honour to submit respectfully for your consideration, if it does not turn out to be perhaps a fact well known to all naturalists and without significance.

I am perhaps rather inconsiderate in disturbing you so much, but I hope that you will indulge me and please accept, etc.

A. Furtado

Footnotes

For a transcription of this letter in its original French, see Transcript.
Barata: cockroach (Portuguese). Cockroaches were formerly classified within the order Orthoptera (grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets), but are now placed within the order Blattodea (cockroaches and termites). They typically lay a single egg case (ootheca) containing several individual eggs, which may be glued to a surface like a wall.

Summary

Reports having found orthopteran egg-cases, affixed to a chalk statuette, that had themselves been coated with chalk, without doubt by the insect that deposited them.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-13423
From
Francisco de Arruda Furtado
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Ile St Michel Azores
Source of text
Historical Archive of the Museums of the University of Lisbon (PT/MUL/FAF/C/01/0036)
Physical description
ADraftS 1p (French)

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13423,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13423.xml

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