208 WRITING OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, [ch. xi. 



My blood boiled with old ardour when he caught a Licinus 

 a prize unknown to me." 



And again to Sir John Lubbock : 



" I feel like an old war-horse at the sound of the trum- 

 pet when I read about the capturing of rare beetles is not 

 this a magnanimous simile for a decayed entomologist? It 

 really almost makes me long to begin collecting again. 

 Adios. 



" ' Floreat Entomologia ' ! to which toast at Cambridge 

 I have drunk many a glass of wine. So again, ' Floreat 

 Entomologia.' N.B. I have not now been drinking any 

 glasses full of wine." 



C. D. to J. D. Hooker. Down, Jan. 23rd, 1859. 



... I enclose letters to you and me from Wallace. I 

 admire extremely the spirit in which they are written. I 

 never felt very sure what he would say. He must be an 

 amiable man. Please return that to me, and Lyell ought 

 to be told how well satisfied he is. These letters have vividly 

 brought before me how much I owe to your and LyelPs 

 most kind and generous conduct in all this affair. 



. . . How glad I shall be when the Abstract is finished, 

 and I can rest ! . . . 



C. D. to A. R. Wallace. Down, Jan. 25th [1859]. 



My dear Sir, I was extremely much pleased at re- 

 ceiving three days ago your letter to me and that to Dr. 

 Hooker. Permit me to say how heartily I admire the spirit 

 in which they are written. Though I had absolutely noth- 

 ing whatever to do in leading Lyell and Hooker to what 

 they thought a fair course of action, yet I naturally could 

 not but feel anxious to hear what your impression would be. 

 I owe indirectly much to you and them ; for I almost think 

 that Lyell would have proved right, and I should never have 

 completed my larger work, for I have found my Abstract 

 [Origin of Species'] hard enough with my poor health, but 

 now, thank God, I am in my last chapter but one. My Ab- 

 stract will make a small volume of 400 or 500 pages. When- 

 ever published, I will, of course, send you a copy, and then 

 you will see what I mean about the part which I believe se- 

 lection has played with domestic productions. It is a very 

 different part, as you suppose, from that played by " Natural 

 Selection." I sent off, by the same address as this note, a 



