To John Price 29 November [1842–55]1
Down | Bromley | Kent
Nov. 29th
Dear Price
I shd have answered your letter of the 12th sooner, had I not lately been much engaged.— I am sorry to say that I am not likely to be able to assist you in the manner you point out, as I do not happen to know any schoolmaster in this part of the country.2
Nor can I answer your Zoological question, but I shd suppose your two Serpulæ were distinct: it is now certainly known, that animals of quite distinct species & even genera, inhabit & form serpula-shells, which in external form are indistinguishably alike.3
Yours very truly | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Summary
Not able to assist JP as he knows no schoolmaster in the area.
Cannot answer zoological question but thinks the two Serpulae are distinct.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1786
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John Price
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library (BANC MSS 74/78 z)
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1786,” accessed on 25 September 2023, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1786.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 7 (Supplement)
