e remark more. If you feel any interest, or can
get any one else to feel any interest on the aberrant genera question,
I should think the most interesting way would be to take aberrant genera
in any great natural family, and test the average number of species to
the genera in that family.

How I wish we lived near each other! I should so like a talk with you on
geographical distribution, taken in its greatest features. I have been
trying from land productions to take a very general view of the world,
and I should so like to see how far it agrees with plants.

LETTER 42. TO MRS. LYELL.

(42/1. Mrs. Lyell is a daughter of the late Mr. Leonard Horner, and
widow of Lieut.-Col. Lyell, a brother of Sir Charles.)

Down, January 26th [1856].

I shall be very glad to be of any sort of use to you in regard to the
beetles. But first let me thank you for your kind note and offer of
specimens to my children. My boys are all butterfly hunters; and all
young and ardent lepidopterists despise, from the bottom of their souls,
coleopterists.

The simplest plan for your end and for the good of entomology, I should
think, would be to offer the collection to Dr. J.E. Gray for the British
Museum on condition that a perfect set was made out for you. If the
collection was at all valuable, I should think he would be very glad to
have this done. Whether any third set would be worth making out would
depend on the value of the collection. I do not suppose that you expect
the insects to be named, for that would be a most serious labour. If you
do not approve of this scheme, I should think it very likely that Mr.
Waterhouse would think it worth his while to set a series for you,
retaining duplicates for himself; but I say this only on a venture.
You might trust Mr. Waterhouse implicitly, which I fear, as [illegible]
goes, is more than can be said for all entomologists. I presume, if
you thought of either scheme, Sir Charles Lyell could easily see the
gentlemen and arrange it; but, if not, I could do so when next I come to
town, which, however, will not be for three or four weeks.

With respect to giving your children a taste for Natural History, I will
venture one remark--viz., that giving them specimens in my opinion would
tend to destroy such taste. Youngsters must be themselves collectors
to acquire a taste; and if I had a collection of English lepidoptera, I
would be systematically most miserly, and not give my boys half a dozen
butter