From George Fraser 13 April 1871
169 Camden Road | London N.W.
13 April 1871.
Chas. Darwin Esqr.
Dear Sir,
The Ghost Moth.
On thinking over the fact mentioned at page 402 in the first volume of “The Descent of Man”, that “in the Shetland Islands males (of H. humuli) are frequently found which closely resemble the females”1—which fact I can corroborate, as I have seen male specimens thus varied in collections made at Peterhead2—it occurs to me that this smaller variation in the case of the male moth may arise as follows: The twilight in those northern regions at the season of the year when H. humuli abounds is so different from our southern twilight that one might say there is no dusk in the north at that time; and thus the mode of sexual selection which I supposed to influence the appearance of the male moth in my letter to you of yesterday would not come into operation there.— But would not this be in truth a confirmation of the theory I ventured to lay before you?—3
Yours most respectfully | George Fraser
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent 2d ed.: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. London: John Murray. 1874.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Summary
Corroborates and offers explanation of fact that male ghost-moths (Hepialis humuli) closely resemble females. [See Descent 1: 402.]
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7681
- From
- George Rae Thomson (George) Fraser
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Camden Rd, 169
- Source of text
- DAR 89: 103
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7681,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7681.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19