1858.] ENTOMOLOGY. 497 



never remember having seen ; though it is excessively rash to 

 speak from a twenty-five-year old remembrance. Whenever 

 we meet you can tell me whether you know it. . . . 



I feel like an old war-horse at the sound of the trumpet, 

 when I read about the capturing of rare beetles — is not this a 

 magnanimous simile for a decayed entomologist ? — It really 

 almost makes me long to begin collecting again. Adios. 



" Floreat Entomologia " ! — to which toast at Cambridge I 

 have drunk many a glass of wine. So again, " Floreat En- 

 tomologia." N. B. I have not now been drinking any glasses 

 full of wine. Yours, 



C. D. 

 C. Darwin to Herbert Spencer. 



Down, Nov. 25th [1858]. 



Dear Sir, — I beg permission to thank you sincerely for 

 your very kind present of your Essays.* 1 have already read 

 several of them with much interest. Your remarks on the 

 general argument of the so-called development theory seems 

 to me admirable. I am at present preparing an Abstract of a 

 larger work on the changes of species ; but I treat the subject 

 simply as a naturalist, and not from a general point of view, 

 otherwise, in my opinion, your argument could not have been 

 improved on, and might have been quoted by me with great 

 advantage. Your article on Music has also interested me 

 much, for I had often thought on the subject, and had come 

 to nearly the same conclusion with you, though unable to 

 support the notion in any detail. Furthermore, by a curious 

 coincidence, expression has been for years a persistent subject 

 with me for loose speculation, and I must entirely agree with 

 you that all expression has some biological meaning. I hope 

 to profit by your criticism on style, and with very best thanks, 

 I beg leave to remain, dear Sir, 



Yours truly obliged, 



C. Darwin. 



* 'Essays, Scientific, Political, and Speculative,' by Herbert Spencer, 



1858-74. 



