pay me a visit during June, and I have thought it would be pleasanter for
you to come here when I can get him, so that you would have a companion if
I get knocked up, as is sadly too often my bad habit and great misfortune.

Did you ever hear of the existence of any sub-breed of the canary in which
the male differs in plumage from the female?


LETTER 446. TO F. MULLER.
Down, June 3rd [1868].

Your letter of April 22nd has much interested me. I am delighted that you
approve of my book, for I value your opinion more than that of almost any
one. I have yet hopes that you will think well of pangenesis. I feel sure
that our minds are somewhat alike, and I find it a great relief to have
some definite, though hypothetical view, when I reflect on the wonderful
transformations of animals, the re-growth of parts, and especially the
direct action of pollen on the mother form, etc. It often appears to me
almost certain that the characters of the parents are "photographed" on the
child, only by means of material atoms derived from each cell in both
parents, and developed in the child. I am sorry about the mistake in
regard to Leptotes. (446/1. See "Animals and Plants," Edition I., Volume
II., page 134, where it is stated that Oncidium is fertile with Leptotes, a
mistake corrected in the 2nd edition.) I daresay it was my fault, yet I
took pains to avoid such blunders. Many thanks for all the curious facts
about the unequal number of the sexes in crustacea, but the more I
investigate this subject the deeper I sink in doubt and difficulty.
Thanks, also, for the confirmation of the rivalry of Cicadae. (446/2. See
"Descent of Man," Edition I., Volume I., page 351, for F. Muller's
observations; and for a reference to Landois' paper.) I have often