Charles Darwin | Autograph letter signed, to John Harmer, on carnivorous beetles, 1881

Charles Darwin

Autograph letter signed, to John Harmer,

thanking him for his account of a beetle attacking a six-inch worm (and for the beetle itself, which Harmer had enclosed), identifying the species and noting its ferocity, 1 page, 8vo, Down House headed stationery, 13 September 1881, light spotting

[with:] Retained copy of Harmer's letter to Darwin, 2 pages, 8vo, Wick, near Arundel, n.d., weak at folds, spotting

DARWIN ON CARNIVOROUS BEETLES. Harmer had captured the beetle in Arundel Park in Sussex, fed it more worms, and then sent it to Darwin, who replies “I had read that beetles attacked worms, but did not know how far this was authentic. The beetle sent is Carabus violaceus; & the genus may be considered as the tigers of the insect world”.

The posthumous revised edition of The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms (1882) notes that “the larger species of Carabus and Staphylinus… attack…. [worms] ferociously”. This observation is absent from the first edition of 1881, so it seems Harmer’s efforts were put to good use.

REFERENCES

Not in the Darwin Correspondence Project, but see DCP-LETT-13332 (Harmer’s letter to Darwin).