Darwin Correspondence Project

Down Farnborough Kent

July 8th

My dear Waterhouse

Two of my Boys are become ardent Lepidopterists, & I want much to know whether there is any systematic work on Lepidoptera, tolerably easy. I really shd be very much obliged if you could inform me. I look at it as fine practice for the intellect making out the names from descriptions, & but idle work, mere collecting or comparing with mere figures.— I have Stephens work, but he uses such dreadfully hard words; & there is no Synopsis. Westwood in his “Modern Classification” has a Synopsis at end, but there it is most extraordinary but he gives no characters for the Families & Sub-families, only generic descriptions.—

John Lubbock has lent me Humphreys & Westwoods magnificent work, but here again there is nothing like a Synopsis; & it would take hours to go dipping through the volume to find the several Families, & pick out the essential characters out of the diffuse descriptions. Does a Book such as I want, exist on British Lepidoptera?

How strange if such does not exist. Will you be so kind as to illuminate me.—

Yours most truly | C. Darwin

For the Butterflies Stephens does pretty well, as he gives some sort of a Synopsis; but what wretched latinised English he does use.