204 EVOLUTION [Chap. Ill 



Letter 141 



To John Lubbock (Lord Avebury). 



Cliff Cottage, Bournemouth, Sept. 5th [1862]. 



Many thanks for your pleasant note in return for all 

 my stupid trouble. I did not fully appreciate your insect- 

 diving case ' before your last note, nor had I any idea that 

 the fact was new, though new to me. It is really very inter- 

 esting. Of course you will publish an account of it. You 

 will then say whether the insect can fly well through the air. 2 

 My wife asked, " How did he find that it stayed four hours 

 under water without breathing ? " I answered at once : 

 " Mrs. Lubbock sat four hours watching." I wonder whether 

 I am right. 



I long to be at home and at steady work, and I hope we 

 may be in another month. I fear it is hopeless my coming 

 to you, for I am squashier than ever, but hope two shower- 

 baths a day will give me a little strength, so that you will, I 

 hope, come to us. It is an age since I have seen you or any 

 scientific friend. 



I heard from Lyell the other day in the Isle of Wight, and 

 from Hooker in Scotland. About Huxley I know nothing, 

 but I hope his book progresses, for I shall be very curious 

 to see it. 3 



I do nothing here except occasionally look at a few 

 flowers, and there are very few here, for the country is 

 wonderfully barren. 



See what it is to be well trained. Horace said to me 

 yesterday, " If every one would kill adders they would come 

 to sting less." I answered : " Of course they would, for there 

 would be fewer." He replied indignantly : " I did not mean 



1 " On two Aquatic Hymenoptcra, one of which uses its Wings in 

 Swimming." By John Lubbock. Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. XXIV., 1864, 

 pp. 135-42. [Read May 7th, 1863.] In this paper Lubbock describes a 

 new species of Polynema — P. //«/<?//.?— which swims by means of its 

 wings, and is capable of living under water for several hours ; the other 

 species, referred to a new genus Prestivichia, lives under water, holds 

 its wings motionless and uses its legs as oars. 



J In describing the habits of Polynema, Lubbock writes, " I was 

 unfortunately unable to ascertain whether they could fly" (loc. cit., 



P- 137)- 



3 Man's Place in Nature. London, 1863. 



