From W. D. Crotch 14 November 1873
Richmond Green
Nov 14/73
My dear Sir
I should have written before had not Mrs. Haliburton1 told me that you were unwell. I hope that is not the case now & will tell you of the results of my enquiries respecting the Rendyr. The Stag very rarely loses both horns at the same time— often there is an interval of several days— so that although most magnificent horns are often found singly the pair might have to be sought 60 miles away— indeed any fright usually causes these timid creatures to run 20 miles at least. The hind retains her horns until she hides herself for calving—& reappears without them,—or, which is excessively rare, with one— Thus the time of calving & shedding the horns can be limited to about a fortnight—tho, this fortnight is, like Easter, a moveable feast.2 I am not yet at the end of the Lemmings—3 They came in the winter on & under the snow— they must have started with the first fall & alternately traversed the surface for speed & tunnelled beneath for food—as I myself often saw them in the autumn of /72— The damage done by them was quite condoned by the subsequent extra-growth of grass where they had been— nearly every one, & certainly every old male & ♀ have a raw on the rump caused by their backing up against a stone
on the approach of even a fancied enemy—such as a Dipper on a stone or a ring ousel. They swim all the lakes but drown with the least wind. & tho’ they are tenacious of life they die with a mere tap on the nose— I left thousands on the snow in Octr. /72—& in May /73 there were none, & but few skeletons—so that the bulk had gone elsewhere to die. Now, if you are not weary I want to ventilate a new theory & as briefly as possible—but not about the Lemmings.
—My dog (& a hundred others) goes 70 miles with me for the first time—runs away & returns home by a quite4
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Crotch, William Duppa. 1876. On the migration and habits of the Norwegian lemming. [Read 4 May 1876.] Additional note relative to the Norwegian lemming. [Read 15 June 1876.] Further remarks on the lemming. [Read 2 November 1876.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Zoology) 13 (1878): 27–34, 83, 157–60.
Descent 2d ed.: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. London: John Murray. 1874.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Summary
Sends information on shedding of reindeer horns in males and females.
Lemmings.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9141
- From
- William Duppa Crotch
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Richmond, Surrey
- Source of text
- DAR 88: 127–8
- Physical description
- AL inc
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9141,” accessed on 25 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9141.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21