The Wallace-Darwin Correspondence 



than the variations which have subsequently arisen and 

 been selected. In fact, I do not understand your explana- 

 tion of the curious order of development of the ornaments 

 of these birds. 



Will you please to tell me whether you are sure that the 

 female Casuarius (Vol. II., p. 150) sits on her eggs as well 

 as the male ? — for, if I am not mistaken, Bartlett told me 

 that the male alone, who is less brightly coloured about 

 the neck, sits on the eggs. In Vol. II., p. 255, you speak 

 of male savages ornamenting themselves more than the 

 women, of which I have heard before; now, have you any 

 notion whether they do this to please themselves, or to 

 excite the admiration of their fellow-men, or to please the 

 women, or, as is perhaps probable, from all three motives ? 



Finally, let me congratulate you heartily on having 

 written so excellent a book, full of thought on all sorts 

 of subjects. Once again, let me thank you for the very 

 great honour which you have done me by your dedication. 

 — Believe me, my dear Walla€e, yours very sincerely, 



Ch. Darwin. 



Vol. II., p. 455 : When in New Zealand I thought the 

 inhabitants a mixed race, with the type of Tahiti preponder- 

 ating over some darker race with more frizzled hair; and 

 now that the stone instruments [have] revealed the existence 

 of ancient inhabitants, is it not probable that these islands 

 were inhabited by true Papuans ? Judging from descrip- 

 tions the pure Tahitans must differ much from your 

 Papuans. 



The reference in the following letter is to Wallace^s 

 review, in the April number of the Quarterly, of LyelPs 

 '^ Principles of Geology '' (tenth edition), and of the sixth 

 edition of the ^^ Elements of Geology.'' Wallace points 

 out that here for the first time Sir C. Lyell gave up his 

 opposition to Evolution; and this leads Wallace to give 



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