396 EVOLUTION [CHAP. V 



finally by the letter of Romanes (Nov. loth, p. 29) to which Darwin 

 refers. The Duke's "flourish" is at p. 7 : "I wish Mr. Darwin's 

 disciples would imitate a little of the dignified reticence of their 

 master. He walks with a patient and a stately step along the paths 

 of conscientious observation, etc., etc." 



Down, Nov. 1 2th, 1881. 



Letter 308 I must write to say how very much I admire your letter 

 in the last Nature. I subscribe to every word that you say, 

 and it could not be expressed more clearly or vigorously. 

 After the Duke's last letter and flourish about me I thought it 

 paltry not to say that I agreed with what you had said. But 

 after writing two folio pages I find I could not say what I 

 wished to say without taking up too much space ; and what 

 I had written did not please me at all, so I tore it up, and 

 now by all the gods I rejoice that I did so, for you have 

 put the case incomparably better than I had done or 

 could do. 



Moreover, I hate controversy, and it wastes much time, at 

 least with a man who, like myself, can work for only a short 

 time in a day. How in the world you get through all your 

 work astonishes me. 



Now do not make me feel guilty by answering this letter, 

 and losing some of your time. 



You ought not to swear at Roux's book, which has led 

 you into this controversy, for I am sure that your last letter 

 was well worth writing not that it will produce any effect on 

 the Duke. 



Letter 309 To J. Jenner Weir. 



On Dec. 27th, 1881, Mr. Jenner Weir wrote to Mr. Darwin : "After 

 some hesitation, in lieu of a Christmas card, I venture to give you the 

 result of some observations on mules made in Spain during the last two 

 years. . . . It is a fact that the sire has the prepotency in the offspring, 

 as has been observed by most writers on that subject, including yourself. 

 The mule is more ass-like, and the hinny more horse-like, both in 

 the respective lengths of the ears and the shape of the tail ; but one 

 point I have observed which I do not remember to have met with, and 

 that is that the coat of the mule resembles that of its dam the mare, and 

 that of the hinny its dam the ass, so that in this respect the prepotency 

 of the sexes is reversed." The hermaphroditism in lepidoptera, referred 

 to below, is said by Mr. Weir to occur notably in the case of the hybrids 

 of Smerinthus populi-ocellatus. 



