To Frederick Smith 4 April [1860]1
Down Bromley Kent
Ap. 4th
My dear Sir
I am much obliged for your note.— Whenever you have finally determined about the Bee, not that it is likely that you will find cause to change your opinion, I will carefully measure the diameter of the cells; & if, as I fully believe, they are sensibly larger, the fact will be curious. The more curious, as Reaumur thought the size so fixed, that he proposed this as a universal standard of measurements for mankind!2
Thanks for information about the genera allied to Pompilus, which I did not know.— I had heard of Calathus & wish I knew where I could obtain more special information,—viz whether all the gradations in size of wing occur in the same place, or whether the variations are local, &c &c.—
With sincere thanks for your never-failing kindness, believe me | My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | C. Darwin
P.S Waterhouse wants much to see the gradation between common & Drone cells.—3
Footnotes
Bibliography
Réaumur, René Antoine Ferchault de. 1734–42. Memoires pour servir à l’histoire des insectes. 6 vols. Paris: Imprimerie royale.
Summary
Variations in sizes of bees’ cells.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2746
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Frederick Smith
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- H. R. Glennie (private collection)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2746,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2746.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 8