From Edward Blyth [c. 22 March 1856]
Summary
Gives references to works on fowls and pigeons.
Observations on Gallinaceae.
Musk ox skull from southern England is additional evidence for Agassiz’s glacial period. Owen is mistaken in calling it a buffalo.
EB describes the buffalo proper.
Will send domestic pigeon specimens.
Believes pigeons were not bred in India before the Mohammedan conquest. Describes Indian breeds.
Believes the ass is an African rather than an Asian production. Discusses various species of ass and their distribution.
Wild horned cattle on borders of Pilibhit and Shahjahanpur.
[Notes received by CD on 6 May 1856.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [c. 22 Mar 1856] |
Classmark: | DAR 98: 133–9 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1845 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … DCP-LETT-1845 …
From Edward Blyth 21 September 1868
Summary
Discusses the top-knot turkey and the occasional appearance of the top-knot in a breed of cream-coloured turkeys.
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 21 Sept 1868 |
Classmark: | DAR 160: 222 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6383 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Review was published in Calcutta from 1845 until at least 1858 ( BLC ). Blyth published …
From Edward Blyth [before 25 March 1868]
Summary
Detailed notes on secondary sexual differences in various species of birds and mammals.
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [before 25 Mar 1868] |
Classmark: | DAR 83: 154–5, DAR 84.1: 131–3, DAR 48: A77, DAR 84.2: 187v |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6048 |
From Edward Blyth 17 September 1868
Summary
Wonders if George Darwin can explain why a thin stream of water poured from a jug always spirals right to left.
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 17 Sept 1868 |
Classmark: | DAR 160: 221 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6372 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Surrey and Sussex. London: W. Kelly & Co. 1845–78. Sackville-West, Victoria. 1922. Knole …
From Edward Blyth 22–3 August 1855
Summary
Gives extracts from a letter by Thomas Hutton.
Rabbits are kept (generally by Europeans) in the NW. provinces and breed freely. Canaries are not well adapted to the climate. Reports on domestic cats and pigeons of the area. EB gives references to further information on cats, pigeons, and silkworms.
[CD’s notes are an abstract of this letter.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 22–3 Aug 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A79–A84 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1746 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Salt 1814 , Appendix IV, p. xlviii. Rüppell 1845. Rüppell 1838–40. Huc 1855 , 2: 120: ‘The …
From Edward Blyth 19 February 1867
Summary
Encloses memorandum on Origin [1866]
discussing mimicry in mammals and birds,
abnormal habits shown by birds,
behaviour of cuckoos,
and analogies existing between mammals of the same geographical region.
Speculates on possible lines of development linking groups of mammals.
[CD’s notes on the verso of the letter are for his reply.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 19 Feb 1867 |
Classmark: | DAR 160: 209, 209/1 & 2, DAR 47: 190, 190a, DAR 80: B99–99a, DAR 205.11: 138, DAR 48: A75 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5405 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1845. Layard, Edgar Leopold. 1862. Notes on the …
From Edward Blyth 27 March 1863
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 27 Mar 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 160: 203 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4062 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … viz. , Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex. London: W. Kelly & Co. 1845–78. …
From Edward Blyth 7 April 1863
Summary
Has seen some curious hybrid ducks and geese of Bartlett’s. Bartlett will do experiments suggested by CD when he has time.
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 7 Apr 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 160: 205 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4078 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Surrey and Sussex. London: W. Kelly & Co. 1845–78. Variation : The variation of animals …
From Edward Blyth [22 September 1855]
Summary
Gives extract from a letter from Capt. R. Tickell: rabbits are not bred by the Burmese; common European and Chinese geese are bred but have probably only recently been introduced.
EB gives references to works illustrating the dog-like instinct of N. American wolves.
Discusses reason and instinct; ascribes both to man and animals. Comments on various instincts, e. g. homing, migratory, parental, constructive, and defensive. Reasoning in animals; cattle learning to overcome fear of passing trains.
Hybrid sterility as an indication of distinct species. Interbreeding as an indication of common parentage.
Enlarges upon details given by J. C. Prichard [in The natural history of man (1843)].
Adaptation of the two-humped camel to cold climates. Camel hybrids.
Doubts that domestic fowl or fancy pigeons have ever reverted to the wild.
Feral horses and cattle of S. America.
Believes the "creole pullets" to be a case of inaccurate description.
Variations in skulls between species of wild boar.
Pigs are so prolific that the species might be expected to cross.
Milk production of cows and goats.
Sheep and goats of lower Bengal.
Indian breeds of horses.
Variation in Asiatic elephants.
Spread of American tropical and subtropical plants in the East.
EB distinguishes between races and artificially-produced breeds.
[CD’s notes are an abstract of this memorandum.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [22 Sept 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A85–A92 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1755 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … with the white men. ’ ( Strzelecki 1845 , p. 347). In CD’s copy of this work (Darwin …
From Edward Blyth 4 August 1855
Summary
Sends a skeleton of a Bengal jungle cock.
Has never heard of trained otters breeding in captivity.
Introduced domestic rabbits are confined to the ports of India.
Canaries and other tame finches and thrushes brought into India do not breed well.
Origin of the domestic canary. Tendency of domesticated birds to produce "top-knot" varieties.
The tame geese of lower Bengal are hybrids; those of upper Bengal are said to be pure Anser cygnoides.
Wild Anser cinereus occur in flocks in the cold season.
Discusses at length different breeds of domestic cats and possible wild progenitors. Wild and domestic cats occasionally interbreed. The Angora variety breeds freely with the common Bengal cat and all stages of intermediates can be found.
Believes pigeons have been bred in India since remote antiquity.
Discusses whether mankind is divided into races or distinct species.
[CD’s notes are an abstract of this letter.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 4 Aug 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A69–A78 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1735 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … he believed to be the ruins of Nineveh in 1845. In 1849 he was appointed attaché to the …
From Edward Blyth [1–8 October 1855]
Summary
Notes on Lyell’s Principles, vol. 2.
EB does not believe in connecting links between genera; there is no tendency to gradation between groups of animals.
Does not believe shortage of food can directly produce any heritable effect on size.
Comments on significance of variations discussed by Lyell. Variation in dentition and coloration.
Behaviour of elephants and monkeys.
When varieties are crossed EB considers that the form of the offspring, whether intermediate or like one or other of the parents, depends upon how nearly related the parents are.
Thinks that in the struggle for existence hybrids, and varieties generally, must be expected to give way to the "beautiful & minute adaptation" of the pure types.
Colours of Indian birds.
Vitality of seeds.
Variation among palms.
Fauna of Malaysia and New Zealand. Ranges of bird species.
[Memorandum originally enclosed with 1760.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [1–8 Oct 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A37–A50 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1762 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Thomas McDougall had been ordained in 1845 and had undertaken missionary work in Borneo in …
From Edward Blyth 8 January [1856]
Summary
Encloses "notes for Mr. D" [see 1818] and a memorandum on the wild cattle of southern India [see 1819].
Breeds of silky fowl of China and Malaya. Black-skinned fowl.
Doubts any breed of canary has siskin blood; all remain true to their type.
Wild canary and finch hybrids.
Hybrids between one- and two-humped camels.
Does not regard zebra markings on asses as an indication of interbreeding but as one of the many instances of markings in the young which more or less disappear in the adult.
Crossing of Coracias species at the edges of their ranges.
Regional variations and intergrading between species of pigeons.
Regards the differences in Treron as specific [see Natural selection, p. 115 n. 1].
Gives other instances of representative species or races differing only in certain details of colouring.
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 8 Jan [1856] |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A110–13, A117–21 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1817 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … as distinct species … Hodgson 1856 . Rüppell 1845, p. 106, in which Rüppell recorded that …
Darwin in letters, 1847-1850: Microscopes and barnacles
Summary
Darwin's study of barnacles, begun in 1844, took him eight years to complete. The correspondence reveals how his interest in a species found during the Beagle voyage developed into an investigation of the comparative anatomy of other cirripedes and…
Diagrams and drawings in letters
Summary
Over 850 illustrations from the printed volumes of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin have been added to the online transcripts of the letters. The contents include maps, diagrams, drawings, sketches and photographs, covering geological, botanical,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … and anticlinal lines of a geological formation, 3 March 1845 Edward Forbes's " …
Darwin in letters, 1844–1846: Building a scientific network
Summary
The scientific results of the Beagle voyage still dominated Darwin's working life, but he broadened his continuing investigations into the nature and origin of species. Far from being a recluse, Darwin was at the heart of British scientific society,…
Matches: 8 hits
- … his Journal of researches for a second edition in 1845, having already provided corrections in …
- … vice-presidents in 1844 and remaining on the council from 1845 onwards; he was a conscientious …
- … attacked the work vehemently in the Edinburgh Review (1845), while other colleagues like Edward …
- … his cousin William Darwin Fox in a letter of [24 April 1845] , he felt he ought to be both …
- … of his Journal of researches for a second edition in 1845. At Lyell’s recommendation, …
- … the original publisher, to John Murray, and throughout 1845 Darwin worked hard to provide manuscript …
- … on board the Beagle back to Tierra del Fuego. By 1845, Darwin was in full command of a …
- … Distribution’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 February 1845] ) and quick to make use of the young …
Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants
Summary
Darwin became increasingly involved in botanical experiments in the years after the publication of Origin. The building of a small hothouse - a heated greenhouse - early in 1863 greatly increased the range of plants that he could keep for scientific…
Matches: 1 hits
- … vol. 3, letter to Charles Lyell, 8 October [1845] ). Having indulged his senses, Darwin …
Darwin and Fatherhood
Summary
Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten children. It is often assumed that Darwin was an exceptional Victorian father. But how extraordinary was he? The Correspondence Project allows an unusually…
Matches: 1 hits
- … he was working (Darwin to his wife Emma, [7-8 February 1845] ). Although Darwin did not usually …
Darwin’s reading notebooks
Summary
In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…
Matches: 19 hits
- … on Instinct [F. G. Cuvier 1822] read Flourens Edit [Flourens 1845] read L. Jenyns paper on …
- … 1834–9] Carlyles Oliver Cromwell [Carlyle 1845] (read) Keppells(?) voyage to Borneo …
- … Exploring Expedition towards the Rocky Mountains [Frémont 1845]. (amusing extracts). perhaps for …
- … America by A. Downing Wiley & Putnam. 14 s . [Downing 1845] (Brit. Museum) (read) good …
- … [DAR *119: 22] Eyeres Travels [E. J. Eyre 1845] very amusing Tschudi’s Travels in …
- … Campbells Lives of Chancellors [J. Campbell 1845–7] last vol. Ludlows Memoirs …
- … Murchisons Russia [Murchison, Verneuil, and Keyserling 1845] (read) Agassiz’s Works …
- … Wilkes Expedition. £ 3. 3 s [Wilkes 1845] order at L. Library. read Botanical Soc. of …
- … Soc. of Neuchatel on Jura. 1846, or 7, or 8 [?Marcou 1845]. 46 Morris good for me.— …
- … 1853] Vol. V of Campbells Chancellors [J. Campbell 1845–7] Lives of the Lindsays …
- … [I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1832–7] Wilkes [Wilkes 1845]. Voyage Vol I. to V Apr …
- … May. Blanco White. Auto-biography [Blanco y Crespo 1845].— 24 Improvisatore [Andersen 1845] …
- … Aug. 5 th Lyells Travels in N. America [Lyell 1845] Oct. Cosmos [A. von Humboldt 1845–8]. …
- … Dec. 10 Ray. Society. Vol I. Reports [Ray Society 1845].— 20 D r Badham insect Life …
- … Feb 6 Explanations by Author of Vestiges [Chambers 1845] —— Bronn’s Gesickte [Bronn 1842–3] 2 …
- … [Twamley 1844] —— Whewell on Education [Whewell 1845–52]. Dec: 26. Watson History of …
- … [Heber 1828] —— 31 Kitto on Deafness [Kitto 1845] —— the French in Algiers [Lamping …
- … 1841] April 10 Wagners Anatomy by Tulk [Wagner 1845] (half through) —— 24 Steenstrup …
- … th Elie de Beaumont Lecons Geologie [Élie de Beaumont 1845] skimmed. June 17 th . Downing …
John Murray
Summary
Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who specialised in non-fiction, particularly politics, travel and science, and had published…
Matches: 4 hits
- … hundred letters from Darwin, from his first negotiations in 1845 until his final years. Although …
- … came to discuss a second edition, probably at the end of 1845, Darwin was not happy with Colburn’s …
- … Colonial Library in three monthly parts (July to September 1845) before being reissued in a single …
- … you have transacted the business with me’ (27 August [1845] Letter 908 ). Thus began the business …
Richard Matthews
Summary
Richard Matthews was 21 years old when he stepped aboard the Beagle, destined for a lonely career as a missionary in Tierra del Fuego. The Church Missionary Society had arranged for him to accompany the three Fuegians (Fuegia Basket, Jemmy Button, and York…
Darwin in letters, 1878: Movement and sleep
Summary
In 1878, Darwin devoted most of his attention to the movements of plants. He investigated the growth pattern of roots and shoots, studying the function of specific organs in this process. Working closely with his son Francis, Darwin devised a series of…
Orundellico (Jemmy Button)
Summary
Orundellico was one of the Yahgan, or canoe people of the southern part of Tierra del Fuego. He was the fourth hostage taken by Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle, in 1830 following the theft of the small surveying boat. This fourteen-year old boy was…
Matches: 3 hits
Journal of researches
Summary
Within two months of the Beagle’s arrival back in England in October 1836, Darwin, although busy with distributing his specimens among specialists for description, and more interested in working on his geological research, turned his mind to the task of…
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
Here is a list of people that appeared in the photograph album Darwin received for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from scientific admirers in the Netherlands. Many thanks to Hester Loeff for identifying and researching them. No. …
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
List of people appearing in the photograph album Darwin received from scientific admirers in the Netherlands for his birthday on 12 February 1877. We are grateful to Hester Loeff for providing this list and for permission to make her research available.…
4.51 Frederick Holder 'Life and Work'
Summary
< Back to Introduction A popular biography of Darwin for young readers by the American naturalist Charles Frederick Holder, published in 1891, sought to present him as ‘an example to the youth of all lands’ (p. v). Thus ‘our hero’ was shown to have…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Captain Fitz Roy, R.N. , 2 nd ed. (London: John Murray, 1845), pp. 22, 90, 182, and 384. Francis …
Second species sketch
Summary
Darwin finishes an expanded sketch of his species theory, first drafted in 1842
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin finishes an expanded sketch of his species theory, first drafted in 1842 …
George Darwin born
Summary
The Darwins' son George Howard Darwin born
Matches: 1 hits
- … The Darwins' son George Howard Darwin born …
Yokcushlu (Fuegia Basket)
Summary
Yokcushlu was one of the Alakaluf, or canoe people from the western part of Tierra del Fuego. She was one of the hostages seized by Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle, after the small boat used for surveying the narrow inlets of the coast of Tierra del…
Living and fossil cirripedia
Summary
Darwin published four volumes on barnacles, the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia, between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and two on fossil species. Written for a specialist audience, they are among the most challenging and least read of Darwin’s works…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In the course of discussions about species in the autumn of 1845, his close friend Joseph Dalton …
Introduction to the Satire of FitzRoy's Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle
Summary
'a humble toadyish follower…': Not all pictures of Darwin during the Beagle voyage are flattering. Published here for the first time is a complete transcript of a satirical account of the Beagle’s brief visit in 1836 to the Cocos Keeling islands…
Matches: 4 hits
- … in roman numerals. Others relate to Darwin’s 1839 or 1845 volumes and Belcher’s Narrative of the …
- … The British press was decidedly unsympathetic. Recalled in 1845, he returned home in humiliation as …
- … world, and had copies of both the 1839 Narrative and the 1845 second edition titled Journal of …
- … Borneo, and the Philippines in HMS Samarang from 1842 to 1845, and ended his naval career with …
Darwin’s observations on his children
Summary
Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children, began the research that culminated in his book The Expression of the emotions in man and animals, published in 1872, and his article ‘A biographical sketch of an infant’, published in Mind…