I hope, if things go as I wish this summer, to begin work at it next
winter. But I feel myself incorrigibly lazy, and have no such system of
collecting and arranging facts or of making the most of my materials as
you and many of our hard-working naturalists possess in
perfection.--With best wishes, believe me, dear Darwin, yours most
sincerely,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
* * * * *
_Down, Bromley, S.E. Tuesday, February, 1866._
My dear Wallace,--After I had dispatched my last note, the simple
explanation which you give had occurred to me, and seems satisfactory. I
do not think you understand what I mean by the non-blending of certain
varieties. It does not refer to fertility. An instance will explain. I
crossed the Painted Lady and Purple sweet peas, which are very
differently coloured varieties, and got, even out of the same pod, both
varieties perfect, but none intermediate. Something of this kind, I
should think, must occur at first with your butterflies and the three
forms of Lythrum; though these cases are in appearance so wonderful, I
do not know that they are really more so than every female in the world
producing distinct male and female offspring.
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