LETTERS. 207 



He then wrote as follows : — 



" April 17/78. " Down. 



"My dear Sir,-— I should be very much obliged if you 

 could get some one to name the photographs of the enclosed 

 insect and read the enclosed letter. Jjt-^eems a pretty, but I 

 _thiaknot new case of protective resemblance. One might 

 fancythat the large"ocelli on the under wings were a sexual 

 o rnament. — Perhaps these i)hotographs might be worth ex- 

 hibiting at the Entomoiog. Soc— I do not want them returned 

 (unless indeed Dr. Zacharias wants them back, which is not 

 probable) or the enclosed letter. 



" A single word with the name of the genus and if possible 

 of the species, would suffice. — 



" Pray forgive my troubling you and believe me 



" Yours faithfully, " Ch. Darwin. 



" I am glad that F. Miiller's letter interested you. He has 

 published a paper with plates on the shape of the hairs or 

 scales on the odoriferous glands of many butterflies, which 

 I could send you, but I doubt whether you would care for it." 



Darwin then sent another letter from Fritz 

 Mtlller containing some interesting notes on odori- 

 ferous organs in butterflies, an3 on tFe occasional 

 failure of the female insect to deposit her eggs on 

 a plant which can serve as the food of the young 

 larvse. The beetles alluded to were a species of 

 Spermophagus. The two letters printed below refer 

 to the same subjects : — 



" ifa?/ 15 [1878]. > "Down. 



" My dear Sir,— I think the enclosed will interest you.— 

 The letter to me need not be returned as I have had the only 

 important passage for my work copied out. — In the letter F. M. 

 [Fritz MuU er] sen t me seeds of Cassia neqlecta and sever al 

 beetles amved alive, having formed their cocoons, and ^n^wed 



