From C. S. Bate 24 May 1868
8, Mulgrave Place, | Plymouth.
My dear Sir
In a collection of Crustacea recently added to the British Museum—I saw a day or two since four specimens of Gelasimus from Zanzibar, all of which had the left arm the larger. When I wrote to you previously I felt a doubt on the subject1
As far as my experience goes all long & large armed crustacea are indolent & sub-burrowing creatures. May not the big claw be for the purpose of reaching far & drawing food within reach of the smaller & more directly feeding claws and to seize the female when at a distance?—2
Yours sincerely | C. Spence Bate
May 24—68
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Summary
On structure of Crustacea; size of claws [see Descent 1: 330–1].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6204
- From
- Charles Spence Bate
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Plymouth
- Source of text
- DAR 82: A69–70
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6204,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6204.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16