We begin printing this week.--Yours very faithfully,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
P.S.--Pray don't distress yourself on this subject. It will all come
right in the end, and after all it is only an episode in your great
work.--A.R.W.
* * * * *
_9 St. Mark's Crescent, N.W. October 4, 1868._
Dear Darwin,--I should have answered your letter before, but have been
very busy reading over my MSS. the last time before going to press,
drawing maps, etc. etc.
Your first question cannot be answered, because we have not, in
_individual cases_ of _slight sexual_ difference, sufficient evidence to
determine how much of that difference is due to sexual selection acting
on the male, how much to natural selection (protective) acting on the
female, or how much of the difference may be due to inherited
differences from ancestors who lived under different conditions. On your
second question I can give an opinion. I do think the females of the
Gallinaceae you mention have been either _modified_; or _prevented from
acquiring much of the brighter plumage of the males_, by the need of
protection.
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