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Darwin Correspondence Project

To J. D. Hooker   19 August 1868

Down Bromley | Kent [Freshwater]

Aug 19 1868

My dear Hooker

I dare say you cd find some naturalist who cd obtain for me from Professor Nillson1 a little piece of information.

It is whether with the Reindeer in which both sexes are horned, are the horns first developed (or are they developed in a greater degree) at an earlier or later age, or at nearly the same period of life as with all other deer, in which the males alone have horns?2

The comparison wd be fairest with species of nearly the same size & inhabiting the same climate.

If Prof. Nillson does not know, wd it be possible to interest him enough to obtain for me in his own country this piece of information about which I am very curious.

Believe me | yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin

Summary

Asks JDH to obtain from Sven Nilsson information on whether, in reindeer species in which both sexes are horned, the horns are first developed earlier or later than in species in which males alone have horns.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-6324
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sent from
Freshwater Down letterhead
Source of text
Lund University Library Special Collections (Sven Nilsson papers)
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6324,” accessed on 16 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6324.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16

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