To John Lubbock 12 August [1871]1
Haredene Albury | Guildford
Aug 12
My dear Lubbock
You will see where we are, & where we remain for 3 weeks more.2
I hope the proof sheets having been sent here will not inconvenience you. I have read them with infinite satisfaction, & the whole discussion strikes me as admirable.3 I have no books here & wish much I cd see a plate of Campodea. I never reflected much on the difficulty which you indicate, & on which you throw so much light.4 I have only a few trifling remarks to make. At p. 44. I wish you had enlarged a little on what you have said of the distinction between developmental & adaptive changes; for I cannot quite remember the point & others will perhaps be in the same predicament.5 I think I always saw that the larva & the adult might be separately modified to any extent. Bearing in mind what strange changes of function parts undergo with the intermediate states of use, it seems to me that you speak rather too boldly on the impossibility of a mandibulate insect being converted into a sucking insect;6 not that I in the least doubt the value of yr explanation.
Cirrepedes passing through what I have called a pupal state, as far as their mouths are concerned, rather supports what you say at p. 52.7
At p. 40 yr remarks on the Argus pheasant (tho’ I have not the least objection to them) do not seem to me very appropriate as being related to the mental faculties8
If you can spare me these proof sheets when done with I shd be obliged as I shall be correcting a new Ed. of the Origin when I return home, tho’ this subject is too large for me to enter on9
I thank you sincerely for the great interest which yr discussion has given me, & with thanks for your congratulation on an event that gives us great satisfaction10 | believe me yours very since⟨rely⟩ | Ch. Darwin
I return by this Post, the sheets
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Living Cirripedia (1854): A monograph of the sub-class Cirripedia, with figures of all the species. The Balanidæ (or sessile cirripedes); the Verrucidæ, etc. By Charles Darwin. London: Ray Society. 1854.
Lubbock, John. 1863–5. On the development of Chloëon (Ephemera) dimidiatum. [Read 15 January 1863 and 21 December 1865.] Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 24 (1864): 61–78; 25 (1866): 477–92.
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
CD’s comments on proofs of JL’s book [Monograph of the Collembola and Thysanura (1873)].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7904
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury
- Sent from
- Haredene, Albury Surrey
- Source of text
- DAR 263: 67 (EH 88206511)
- Physical description
- LS(A) 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7904,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7904.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19