To K. T. E. von Siebold 4 December 1871
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
Decr. 4. 1871
Dear & Respected Sir
I have been much gratified by receiving your letter & photograph, for during very many years I have held your name in the greatest honour; & I especially thank you for your very kind words about what I have attempted to do in natural science.1
Your view of pseudova,—that they perhaps constitute a return to a primordial state of things is quite new to me.—2 I have not as yet received your recent work on Parthenogenesis;3 but I received some years ago your very interesting memoir on Polistes, which seemed to me a worthy successor to your famous book on the Hive-bee; & this in fact first started this important subject.4
With most sincere respect & my best thanks, I remain | Dear Sir | Yours very faithfully, Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Living Cirripedia (1851): A monograph of the sub-class Cirripedia, with figures of all the species. The Lepadidæ; or, pedunculated cirripedes. By Charles Darwin. London: Ray Society. 1851.
Marginalia: Charles Darwin’s marginalia. Edited by Mario A. Di Gregorio with the assistance of Nicholas W. Gill. Vol. 1. New York and London: Garland Publishing. 1990.
Siebold, Karl Theodor Ernst von. 1857. On a true parthenogenesis in moths and bees; a contribution to the history of reproduction in animals. Translated by William S. Dallas. London: John van Voorst.
Siebold, Karl Theodor Ernst von. 1869. Ueber Parthenogenesis bei Polistes gallica und über Paedogenesis der Strepsipteren. Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie 20: 236–47.
Siebold, Karl Theodor Ernst von. 1871. Beiträge zur Parthenogenesis der Arthropoden. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Thanks for the letter, photograph, and kind words about CD’s scientific work. [See 8088.]
CTEvS’s view of pseudova is new to CD;
he has not yet received the recent work on parthenogenesis
though he did receive the memoir on Polistes.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8094A
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Carl Theodor Ernst von Siebold
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Museo Nacional de Etnología, Madrid (FD4472)
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8094A,” accessed on 26 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8094A.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19