From Benjamin Dann Walsh 29 April – 19 May 1864
Rock. Island. Illinois. U.S.
April 29. 1864
Chas Darwin Esq. Dear Sir,
More than thirty years ago I was introduced to you at your rooms in Christ’s College by A. W. Griesbach1 & had the pleasure of seeing your noble collection of British Coleoptera.2 Some years afterwards I became Fellow of Trinity & finally gave up my fellowship, rather that go into Orders, & came to this Country.3 For the last 5 or 6 years I have been paying considerable attention to the insect Fauna of U.S., some of the fruits of which you will see in the enclosed pamphlets.4
Allow me to take this opportunity of thanking you for the publication of your Origin of Species,5 which I read three years ago by the advice of a Botanical friend, though I had a strong prejudice against what I supposed then to be your views. The first perusal staggered me, the second convinced me, & the oftener I read it the more convinced I am of the general soundness of your theory.
As you have called upon Naturalists that believe in your views to give public testimony of their convictions,6 I have directed your attention on the outside of one or two of my Pamphlets to the particular passages in which ⟨I⟩ have done so.7 You will please accept these Papers from me in token of my respect & admiration.
As you may see from the latest of these Papers, I ⟨have⟩ recently made the remarkable discovery that there ⟨are the⟩ so-called “three sexes” not only in social insects but ⟨also in the⟩ strictly solitary genus Cynips.8
When is your great work to make its appearance?9 ⟨I should be⟩ much pleased to receive a few lines from you on th⟨ ⟩ ⟨ ⟩10
Very truly yours, Benj. D. W⟨alsh⟩
P.S. May 19. The above was written some weeks ago, but the package containing it, which is going to Rev. Hamlet Clark, does not leave till today.
CD annotations11
Footnotes
Bibliography
Alum. Cantab.: Alumni Cantabrigienses. A biographical list of all known students, graduates and holders of office at the University of Cambridge, from the earliest times to 1900. Compiled by John Venn and J. A. Venn. 10 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1922–54.
Brooke, Christopher N. L. 1993. A history of the University of Cambridge, 1870–1990. Vol. 4 of A history of the University of Cambridge, general editor Christopher N. L. Brooke. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Browne, Janet. 1995. Charles Darwin. Voyaging. Volume I of a biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
DAB: Dictionary of American biography. Under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies. 20 vols., index, and 10 supplements. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons; Simon & Schuster Macmillan. London: Oxford University Press; Humphrey Milford. 1928–95.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Freeman, Richard Broke. 1978. Charles Darwin: a companion. Folkestone, Kent: William Dawson & Sons. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, Shoe String Press.
Origin 4th ed.: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 4th edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1866.
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.
Sorensen, W. Conner. 1995. Brethren of the net. American entomology, 1840–1880. Tuscaloosa and London: University of Alabama Press.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Walsh, Benjamin Dann. 1862a. List of the Pseudoneuroptera of Illinois contained in the cabinet of the writer, with descriptions of over forty new species, and notes on their structural affinities. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (1862), pp. 361–402.
Summary
Recalls being introduced to CD when [undergraduate] at Cambridge.
Sends CD some of his pamphlets
and expresses support of Origin.
Has discovered there are "3 sexes" in the solitary Cynips as well as social insects.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4477
- From
- Benjamin Dann Walsh
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Rock Island, Ill.
- Source of text
- DAR 181: 9
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp damaged †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4477,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4477.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12