Letter
to
Summary
Thanks for queen-bee larva and pupa.
Nervous system of Coccus.
Transcription
High Elms, | Farnborough, | Kent.
10 June 58
Dear Mr. Darwin
I hope you are better. Many thanks for the Queen Bee larva & Pupa which will be very useful some day. [DIAGRAMS HERE] C. persicæ? 1 b a b C. hesperidum 2 b a a b
The above two figures represent the posterior part of the subœsophageal ganglion, in the two species of Coccus whose nervous system I have examined.f1 In C. persicæ? the ganglion end like a trident, whose 3 teeth pass gradually into the central stem and two lateral nerves.
In some specimens of both species I have seen the nerve a rise directly from the ganglion and not from the nerve b.f2
Believe me | Yours most sincerely | J Lubbock
C Darwin Esq
Footnotes
- f1
- John Lubbock was preparing a paper on the digestive and nervous systems of the insect Coccus hesperidum (Lubbock 1858). His paper was read at a meeting of the Royal Society on 18 November 1858. An offprint of the paper marked by CD is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.
- f2
- CD was impressed to hear that important organs like nerves were subject to variation in their number and position. Lubbock’s information was cited in Origin, p. 46.