i860.] 



REVIEWS. 



351 



.. 



Natural Selection," and show how 

 variously it has been misunder- 

 stood. 



* A writer in the ' Edinburgh 

 Philosophical Journal ' denies my 

 statement that the Woodpecker of 

 La Plata never frequents trees. I 

 observed its habits during two 

 years, but, what is more to the 

 purpose, Azara, whose accuracy all 

 admit, is more emphatic than I am 

 in regard to its never frequenting 

 trees. Mr. A. Murray denies that 

 it ought to be called a woodpecker ; 

 it has two toes in front and two 

 behind, pointed tail feathers, a long 



pointed tongue, and the same 

 general form of body, the same 

 manner of flight, colouring and 

 voice. It was classed, until re- 

 cently, in the same genus Picus 

 with all other woodpeckers, but 

 now has been ranked as a distinct 

 genus amongst the Picidse. It 

 differs from the typical Picus only 

 in the beak, not being quite so 

 strong, and in the upper mandible 

 being slightly arched. I think 

 these facts fully justify my state- 

 ment that it is " in all essential 

 parts of its organisation " a Wood- 

 pecker.] 



C. Darwin to T. H. Huxley. 



Down, Nov. 22 [i860]. 



My dear Huxley, For heaven's sake don't write an 

 anti-Darwinian article ; you would do it so confoundedly 

 well. I have sometimes amused myself with thinking how 

 I could best pitch into myself, and I believe I could give two 



or three good digs ; but I will see you first, before I will 



try. I shall be very impatient to see the Review.* If it 

 succeeds it may really do much, very much good 



I heard to-day from Murray that I must set to work at 

 once on a new edition \ of the ' Origin.' [Murray] says the 

 Reviews have not improved the sale. I shall always think 

 those early reviews, almost entirely yours, did the subject an 

 enormous service. If you have any important suggestions or 

 criticisms to make on any part of the ' Origin,' I should, of 

 course, be very grateful for [them]. For I mean to correct as far 

 as I can, but not enlarge. How you must be wearied with 

 and hate the subject, and it is God's blessing if you do not 

 eret to hate me. Adios. 



* The first number of the new appeared in 1861. 

 series of the 'Nat. Hist. Review' \ The 3rd edition. 



