To Miss Holland1 [May 1856]2
[Down]
My dear Miss Holland
Fortunately for my entomological credit, a first-rate Entomologist has been staying with me, to whom I showed the pupa which you sent me, & he says it would turn into one of the Lackey moths, probably the Eriogaster lanestris.—3 Last summer moths & butterflies abounded in an unprecedented degree, & entomologists attribute this abundance, I believe rightly, to the great destruction of birds during the winter previous to that just passed;4 & the scarcity of birds saved many caterpillars which otherwise would have been devoured, & hence the numerous cocoons on your Hawthorn Hedges.—
Emma demands the rest of this note,5 so pray believe me, dear Miss Holland, yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
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.
Summary
An entomologist who has been staying with CD [T. V. Wollaston] says the pupa she sent would turn into a lackey moth.
Adds that the great destruction of birds in the winter preceding the last is probable cause of survival of caterpillars and resulting numerous cocoons.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1861
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Miss Holland
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1861,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1861.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6
