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From Sam Sanday to W. B. Tegetmeier   29 October 1868

Newark.

Oct 29th/68.

Dear Sir

I am very sorry to have troubled you again to write to me, I should have sent you the averages sooner if possible, but I have only today finished making them out.1

On the other side I send a list of male and female lambs in each consecutive year up to 1866. In 1862 my father sold almost the whole of his flock. So the last few years he has bred very few pure Leicesters, though my brother is gradually working up a good flock.2 You will see that he did not breed such a very great quantity. On an average he let about 70 or 80 tups every year.

Yours very sincerely | Sam Sanday.

P.S. Could you just mention the schedule of our show in your columns the same as you kindly did for us last year.3

males females
1851. — 87. —111
1852. — 106. —88.
1853. — 99. —97
1854 — 102. —105
1855 — 71. —84
1856 — 70 —73
1857 — 79. —105
1858 — 90. —88
1859 — 73 —92
1860 — 105 —100
1861 — 92. —101
1862 — 97 —115
1863 — 25 —17
1864 — 20 —26
1865 — 43 —37
1866 — 25 —29.

CD annotations

2.2 So … flock. 2.4] ‘Yes pure Leicester’ in margin, pencil

Footnotes

1
Tegetmeier, at CD’s request, had published a query regarding the proportion of the sexes in animals in the 22 February 1868 issue of the Field, and had volunteered to collect the results (see letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 11 February [1868], and letter from W. B. Tegetmeier, [before 15 February 1868] and n. 8). This letter may not have been forwarded to CD until February 1869 (see Correspondence vol. 17, letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 5 February [1869]). Two other notes received from Tegetmeier on proportions of sexes in sheep are in DAR 85: B26 and B39.
2
In a discussion of the proportion of the sexes in sheep, CD noted that he had received information ‘from four gentlemen in England who have bred lowland sheep, chiefly Leicesters, during the last ten or sixteen years’ (Descent 1: 304). CD then gave the numbers received in total, recording that they were in the proportion of 96.7 males to 100 females. Sanday’s numbers amounted to 93.4 males to 100 females. CD’s calculations on the figures received are in DAR 85: B25. Sanday’s father was William Sanday and his brother was George Henry Sanday.
3
Tegetmeier was the poultry editor for the Field. The 31 October 1868 issue, p. 366, included the following notice: ‘Newark-on-Trent Jan 14, 15 Poultry, pigeons and canaries Sec. Mr S. Sanday’.

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.

Summary

Information on proportion of sexes born in sheep.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-6441
From
Samuel (Sam) Sanday
To
William Bernhard Tegetmeier
Sent from
unstated
Source of text
DAR 85: B22–23
Physical description
encl ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6441,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6441.xml

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

letter

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