Letter 5309
Tegetmeier, W. B. to Darwin, C. R.
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Thanks for information. Sclater was source of statement about Numida ptiloryncha [as origin of guinea-fowl] in The poultry book [pt 12 (Dec 1866): 288].
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Transcription
Muswell Hill
Dec
Dear Sir
Thanks for your kind note it contained precisely the information I wanted
I hardly know whether you care to read the enclosed—
When writing to me please return it at your convenience but do not trouble to write purposely.
Yours very truly | W B Tegetmeier
D
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- f1 5309.f1
The year is established by the reference to the most recent instalment of the Poultry book (see n. 4, below). - +
- f2 5309.f2
CD had supplied Tegetmeier with information on the origin of the domestic duck and goose (see letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 12 December [1866] and nn. 3 and 4). - +
- f3 5309.f3
The enclosure has not been found. CD returned it to Tegetmeier with his letter of 18 [December 1866]. - +
- f4 5309.f4
The reference is to Philip Lutley Sclater. Tegetmeier's Poultry book (Tegetmeier 1867) was issued in fifteen monthly instalments, the most recent (part 12, pp. 266--88) dated December 1866. CD's unbound annotated copy is in the Darwin Library--CUL. Tegetmeier wrote that Numida ptilorhyncha, the Abyssinian guinea fowl, was probably the ancestor of the domestic variety (Tegetmeier 1867, p. 288; see also Variation 1: 294). The name is no longer valid, having been subsumed within N. meleagris (Birds of the world).