From A. R. Wallace 23 June [1869]1
9, St. Mark’s Crescent N.W.
June 23rd.
Dear Darwin
Thank you very much for the copy of your fifth Edition of the “Origin”. I have not yet read all the additions, but those I have looked at seem very interesting, though somewhat brief,—but I suppose you are afraid of too great & rapid growth.
A difficult sexual character seems to me the plumules or battledore scales on the wings of certain families & genera of butterflies—almost invariably changing in form with the species and genera in proportion to other changes,—and always constant in each species yet confined to the males, & so small & mixed up with the other scales, as to produce no effect on the colour or marking of the wings. How could sexual selection produce them?2
Your correspondent Mr. Geach3 is now in England, & if you would like to see him I am sure would be glad to meet you. He is staying with his brother,4 address, Guildford, but often comes to town.
Hoping that you have quite recovered from your accident5 & that the great work is progressing, | Believe me | Dear Darwin | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace—
P.S. You will perhaps be pleased to hear that German French & Danish translations of my Malay Archipelago are in progress.6
A R W.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Calendar: A calendar of the correspondence of Charles Darwin, 1821–1882. With supplement. 2d edition. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1994.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1870–1. Insulinde: het land van den orang-oetan en den paradijsvogel. Translated by P. J. Veth. 2 vols. Amsterdam: P. N. van Kampen.
Summary
Asks whether sexual selection could produce the changing plumules or "battledore" scales on the wings of certain butterflies.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6797
- From
- Alfred Russel Wallace
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, St Mark’s Crescent, 9
- Source of text
- DAR 106: B81–2
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6797,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6797.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17