To Henry Denny 12 August [1844]
Down Bromley Kent
Aug 12
Dear SIr
I took such especial pains, in myself always doing up every specimen, that I am astonished & can hardly believe there has been a mistake.— I have turned to my catalogoue, made on the spot, & I there enter a memorandum to have these Pediculi, compared with those of the Domestic Guinea Pig.—1 It occurs to me that I may have transposed my numbers in copying them for you.— so I will recopy them. 658.from the Ctenomys Braziliensis (a burrowing rodent) or ⟨ ⟩2 646from the Aperea ie. the Cavaia Cobaya 638—from the Synallaxis3 1185.from Man4 It is possible I may have brought home the dead specimen in the same bag with birds, & the parasites from the latter have crawled on the former; but I feel no doubt that I with my own hands took the Lice off the Aperea & put them into spirits
Ever yours, &c | C. Darwi⟨n⟩
Footnotes
Bibliography
Birds: Pt 3 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. By John Gould. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder and Co. 1839–41.
Summary
Can hardly believe he made a mistake in specimens sent to HD. Recopies numbers in case he transposed them. [Has to do with lice taken from a specimen of aperea and put into spirits during Beagle voyage.]
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-770
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Henry Denny
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.)
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 770,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-770.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 3