Alfred Russel Wallace 



lecture, if my voice did not hold out. I am very much afraid 

 I cannot stand the strain of speaking beyond my natural tone 

 for an hour, or even for half that time — but I may be able to 

 do the opening and conclusion. . . . 



I am glad that you see, as I do, the utter futility of the 

 claims of the Mutationists. I may just mention them in the 

 lecture, but I hope I have put the subject in such a way that 

 even " the meanest capacity " will suffice to see the absurdity 

 of their claims.— Yours very truly, Alfred K. Wallace. 



To Prof. Poulton 

 Old Orchard, Broadstone, Wimborne. January 26, 1909. 



My dear Poulton, — I had a delightful two hours at the 

 Museum on Saturday morning, as Mr. Rothschild brought 

 from Tring several of his glass-bottomed drawers with his 

 finest new New Guinea butterflies. They were a treat ! I 

 never saw anything more lovely and interesting! . . . 



As to your very kind and pressing invitation,^ I am sorry 

 to be obliged to decline it. I cannot remain more than one 

 day or night away from home, without considerable discom- 

 fort, and all the attractions of your celebration are, to me, 

 repulsions. . . . 



My lecture, even as it will be published in the Fortnightly , 

 will be far too short for exposition of all the points I wish to 

 discuss, and I hope to occupy myself during this year in say- 

 ing all I want to say in a book (of a wider scope) which is 

 already arranged for. One of the great points, which I just 

 touched on in the lecture, is to show that all that is usually 

 considered the waste of Nature — the enormous number pro- 

 duced in proportion to the few that survive — was absolutely 

 essential in order to secure the variety and continuity of life 



» The Oxford Celebration of the Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of 

 Charles Darwin, February 12, 1809. An account of the celebration is given 

 in " Darwin and ' The Origin,' " by E. B. Poulton, p. 78. 1909. 



