time to make some of the
experiments suggested by you; but I thought butterflies would not pair
in confinement; I am sure I have heard of some such difficulty. Many
years ago I had a dragonfly painted with gorgeous colours, but I never
had an opportunity of fairly trying it.

The reason of my being so much interested just at present about sexual
selection is that I have almost resolved to publish a little essay on
the Origin of Mankind, and I still strongly think (though I failed to
convince you, and this to me is the heaviest blow possible) that sexual
selection has been the main agent in forming the races of man.

By the way, there is another subject which I shall introduce in my
essay, viz. expression of countenance. Now, do you happen to know by any
odd chance a very good-natured and acute observer in the Malay
Archipelago who, you think, would make a few easy observations for me on
the expression of the Malays when excited by various emotions. For in
this case I would send to such person a list of queries.--I thank you
for your most interesting letters, and remain yours very sincerely,

CH. DARWIN.

* * * * *

_9 St. Mark's Crescent, N.W. March 11, 1867._

Dear Darwin,--I return your queries, but cannot answer them with any
certainty. For the Malays I should say Yes to 1, 3, 8, 9, 10 and 17, and
No to 12, 13 and 16; but I cannot be _certain_ in any one. But do you
think these things are of much importance? I am inclined to think that
if you could get good direct observations you would find some of them
often differ from tribe to tribe, from island to island, and sometimes
from village to village. Some no doubt may be deep-seated, and would
imply organic differences; but can you tell beforehand which these are?
I presume the Frenchman shrugs his shoulders whether he is of the
Norman, Breton, or Gaulish stock. Would it not be a good thing to send
your List of Queries to some of the Bombay and Calcutta papers? as there
must be numbers of Indian judges and other officers who would be
interested and would send you hosts of replies. The Australian papers
and New Zealand might also publish them, and then you would have a fine
basis to go on.

Is your essay on Variation in Man to be a supplement to your volume on
Domesticated Animals and Cultivated Plants? I would rather see your
second volume on "The Struggle for Existence, etc.," for I doubt if we
have a sufficiency of fair and acc