Alfred Russel Wallace 



and I shall not, till I g^t settled in my new Louse, some 

 time next spring, I hope. — With best wishes, believe me 

 yours very faithfully, Alfred R. Wallace. 



Haredene, Albury, Guildford. August 1, 1871. 



My dear Wallace, — Your kind and sympathetic letter 

 pleased me greatly and did me good, but as you are so 

 busy I did not answer it. I write now because I have just 

 received a very remarkable letter from Fritz Muller (with 

 butterflies' wings gummed on paper as illustrations) on 

 mimicry, etc. I think it is well worth your reading, but 

 I will not send it, unless I receive a J^d. card to this 

 effect. He puts the difficulty of first start in imitation 

 excellently, and gives wonderful proof of closeness of the 

 imitation. He hints a curious addition to the theory 

 in relation to sexual selection, which you will think 

 madly hypothetical : it occurred to me in a very differ- 

 ent class of cases, but I was afraid to publish it. It 

 would aid the theory of imitative protection, when the 

 colours are bright. He seems much pleased with your 

 caterpillar theory. I wish the letter could be published, 

 but without coloured illustrations [it] would, I fear, be 

 unintelligible. 



I have not yet made up my mind about Wright's 

 review; I shall stop till I hear from him. Your sugges- 

 tion would make the '* Origin,'' already too large, still 

 more bulky. 



By the way, did Mr. Youmans, of the United States, 

 apply to you to write a popular sketch of Natural Selec- 

 tion ? I told him you would do it immeasurably better 

 than anyone in the world. My head keeps very rocky and 

 wretched, but I am better. — Ever yours most truly, 



C. Darwin. 

 270 



