From J. E. Harting 1 May [1880?]1
22, Regent’s Park Road, N.W.
1 May.
Dear Sir
I venture to draw your attention to an interesting fact in regard to the Wild cat (Felis sylvestris) to which I do not find any allusion made in Vol. i. of “Animals & Plants under Domestication”.2 It is this, that the period of gestation in the wild cat is as nearly as possible 68 days, or 12 days longer than the domestic animal. This has been proved by their breeding in confinement. See “The Zoologist”, 1876. p. 4868 and 5038.3
There is another point, too, which seems worth notice, namely, that where the Wild Cat has been induced to reproduce in captivity, it has been in the Spring (about May) and only once in the year. See “The Zoologist”, 1875, p. 4453.4
I am, Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | J. E. Harting
Charles Darwin Esq F.R.S. | &c &c &c.
Footnotes
Summary
Wild cat gestation is twelve days longer than domestic cat, a fact not mentioned in Variation.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13815
- From
- James Edmund Harting
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Regents Park Rd, 22
- Source of text
- DAR 166: 112
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13815,” accessed on 16 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13815.xml
