From Edward Blyth [1–8 October 1855]
Summary
Notes on Lyell’s Principles, vol. 2.
EB does not believe in connecting links between genera; there is no tendency to gradation between groups of animals.
Does not believe shortage of food can directly produce any heritable effect on size.
Comments on significance of variations discussed by Lyell. Variation in dentition and coloration.
Behaviour of elephants and monkeys.
When varieties are crossed EB considers that the form of the offspring, whether intermediate or like one or other of the parents, depends upon how nearly related the parents are.
Thinks that in the struggle for existence hybrids, and varieties generally, must be expected to give way to the "beautiful & minute adaptation" of the pure types.
Colours of Indian birds.
Vitality of seeds.
Variation among palms.
Fauna of Malaysia and New Zealand. Ranges of bird species.
[Memorandum originally enclosed with 1760.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [1–8 Oct 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A37–A50 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1762 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … liberiensis , scarcely larger than a big Hog, which abounds inland at the settlement of …
- … the latter. P. 91. Need I remark that there is a peculiar Hog in N. Guinea, the Sus …
- … nearest affine to which is Hodgson’s Pigmy Hog of the subHimalayan Sâl forests! Did not M …
- … 24.16] scored brown crayon 26.1 peculiar Hog in N. Guinea] underl brown crayon 27.3 We …
- … 1830–3 , 2: 91, states: ‘The New Guinea hog is of the Chinese variety, and was probably …
From Edward Blyth [22 September 1855]
Summary
Gives extract from a letter from Capt. R. Tickell: rabbits are not bred by the Burmese; common European and Chinese geese are bred but have probably only recently been introduced.
EB gives references to works illustrating the dog-like instinct of N. American wolves.
Discusses reason and instinct; ascribes both to man and animals. Comments on various instincts, e. g. homing, migratory, parental, constructive, and defensive. Reasoning in animals; cattle learning to overcome fear of passing trains.
Hybrid sterility as an indication of distinct species. Interbreeding as an indication of common parentage.
Enlarges upon details given by J. C. Prichard [in The natural history of man (1843)].
Adaptation of the two-humped camel to cold climates. Camel hybrids.
Doubts that domestic fowl or fancy pigeons have ever reverted to the wild.
Feral horses and cattle of S. America.
Believes the "creole pullets" to be a case of inaccurate description.
Variations in skulls between species of wild boar.
Pigs are so prolific that the species might be expected to cross.
Milk production of cows and goats.
Sheep and goats of lower Bengal.
Indian breeds of horses.
Variation in Asiatic elephants.
Spread of American tropical and subtropical plants in the East.
EB distinguishes between races and artificially-produced breeds.
[CD’s notes are an abstract of this memorandum.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [22 Sept 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A85–A92 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1755 |
From Edward Blyth 26 April 1869
Summary
Has found no difference between male and female rhesus monkeys at the Zoological Gardens in amount of facial hairiness. Observations on other monkeys.
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 26 Apr 1869 |
Classmark: | DAR 85: A107–8 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6713 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … to request him to figure the Abyssinian wart-hog ( Phacochœrus Æliani ) that has recently …
From Edward Blyth 7 September [1855]
Summary
Comments on the ease with which different species of Felis can be tamed.
Asian species of wild cattle.
Variation in colour of jackals.
Discusses the difficulties of differentiating between varieties and species. EB recommends Herman Schlegel’s definition of species [in Essay on the physiognomy of serpents, trans. T. S. Traill (1843)]. Problems of defining species of wolves and squirrels. Pigeons and doves afford an illustration of "clusters of species, varieties, or races". Various pigeons have local species in different parts of India and Burma, some of which interbreed where their ranges cross; as do the local species of Coracias [see Natural selection, p. 259].
[CD’s notes are an abstract of this memorandum.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 7 Sept [1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A51–5 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1752 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … different wild Canines, & ditto Cats, & Hogs, & Sheep. Is not the Horse thus a blended …
From Edward Blyth 11 February 1868
Summary
Corrects some facts and gives further information on some points for the 2d ed. of Variation.
Specific distinctions among animals.
Cercopithecus of Africa contrasted with the Cebus of South America.
Notes on domestic fowls and their ancestors.
Slow growth of wild animals compared with domestic varieties.
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 11 Feb 1868 |
Classmark: | DAR 80: B169a–c |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5861 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of Potamochoerus porcus (the red river hog) in Gray’s revised taxonomy of the pig (see …
From Edward Blyth [30 September or 7 October 1855]
Summary
Origin of domestic varieties. EB ascribes "abnormal" variations to man’s propagation of casual monstrosities; believes "normal" variations, e.g. European races of cattle, are a consequence of man’s selecting the choicest specimens. Gives examples of "abnormal" variations; they give rise to features that have no counterpart among possible wild progenitors. Divides domestic animals into those whose origin is known and those whose origin is unknown. Considers that the wild progenitors of nearly all domestic birds are known. Fowls and pigeons show many varieties but if propagated abnormalities are ignored each group can be seen to be variations of a single species, the ancestors of which can be recognised without difficulty. Discusses varieties and ancestry of the domestic fowl. Variation in the wild; the ruff shows exceptional variability; other species of birds show variability in size of individuals. Remarks that markings sometimes vary on different sides of the same animal. Comments on the want of regularity in leaf and petal patterns of some plants. Discusses domestic varieties of reindeer and camels. Origin of humped cattle. Reports the rapid spread of a snail in lower Bengal that was introduced as a single pair five or six years previously.
[CD’s notes are an abstract of part of this memorandum. Memorandum originally enclosed with 1760.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [30 Sept or 7 Oct] 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A25–A36 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1761 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … liberiensis , not larger than a good-sized Hog, is quite a recent discovery, though the …
letter | (6) |
Blyth, Edward | (6) |
Darwin, C. R. | (6) |
Blyth, Edward | |
Darwin, C. R. | (6) |
Correlation of growth: deaf blue-eyed cats, pigs, and poison
Summary
As he was first developing his ideas, among the potential problems Darwin recognised with natural selection was how to account for developmental change that conferred no apparent advantage. He proposed a ‘mysterious law’ of ‘correlation of growth’ where…
Matches: 1 hits
- … ed. p. 12). ‘I have been the more glad to get your Hog case,’ Darwin confided to Wyman, ‘as I …
Darwin’s reading notebooks
Summary
In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…