To Robert Swinhoe [September 1866]1
Cordial Thanks for so kindly remembering my wish— when I come to subject—Apis Indica—,2 Your kindness will lead you to be glad to hear that my health much improved, though yet far from strong—3 my eternal book, you a copy, if not returned before this date.4 I am delighted to hear that you keep on your zealous love & work for Nat History & British Assoc—5 New discussion—on modification of species
President’s address—6 Hooker capital lecture7—but I hear Wallace’s paper best—8
I wish I could tell you any news, but I have not been in L. since Spring9 & seen nobody socially except Sir J. Lubbock—who was down chiefly comparing his collection to Archaeologs.10
I suppose you see Zoolog Proc—the case of the N American antelopes so intermediate between hollow & solid-horned ruminants, is one of more curious facts I have lately heard with respect to higher animals.—11
Footnotes
Bibliography
Canfield, Colbert A. 1866. On the habits of the prongbuck (Antilocapra americana), and the periodical shedding of its horns. [Read 27 February 1866.] Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1866): 105–10.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Grove, William Robert. 1866. Address of the president. Report of the thirty-sixth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Nottingham, pp. liii–lxxxii.
Hutchinson, Horace Gordon. 1914. Life of Sir John Lubbock, Lord Avebury. 2 vols. London: Macmillan.
Nowak, Ronald M. 1999. Walker’s mammals of the world. 6th edition. 2 vols. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Swinhoe, Robert. 1865. Notes on the aborigines of Formosa. Report of the thirty- fifth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Birmingham, Transactions of the sections, pp. 129–30.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Hooker’s lecture to BAAS ["Insular floras"] was capital,
but hears Wallace’s paper [Address to Anthropology Section, Rep. BAAS 36 (1866): 93–4] was best.
Pleased RS continues zealous work for natural history.
CD considers the report that N. American antelopes’ horns are intermediate between hollow and solid horns of ruminants to be one of the more curious facts he has lately heard of with respect to higher animals [C. A. Canfield, "On the habits of the prongbuck", Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. (1866): 105–11].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5202
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Robert Swinhoe
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 177: 329r
- Physical description
- ADraft 2pp (on 5041)
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5202,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5202.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 14