asy
at the time you waste in amusing and interesting me. I was very
curious to hear about Phillips. The review in the "Annals" is, as I was
convinced, by Wollaston, for I have had a very cordial letter from him
this morning. (95/3. A bibliographical Notice "On the Origin of Species
by means of Natural Selection; or the Preservation of Favoured Races
in the Struggle for Life." ("Annals and Mag." Volume V., pages 132-43,
1860). The notice is not signed. Referring to the article, in a
letter to Lyell, February 15th, 1860, Darwin writes: "I am perfectly
convinced...that the review in the "Annals" is by Wollaston; no one else
in the world would have used so many parentheses" ("Life and Letters,"
II., page 284).)

I send by this post an attack in the "Gardeners' Chronicle" by Harvey
(a first-rate botanist, as you probably know). (95/4. In the "Gardeners'
Chronicle" of February 18th, 1860, W.H. Harvey described a case of
monstrosity in Begonia frigida, which he argued was hostile to the
theory of Natural Selection. The passage about Harvey's attack was
published in the "Life and Letters," II., page 275.) It seems to me
rather strange; he assumes the permanence of monsters, whereas monsters
are generally sterile, and not often inheritable. But grant his case,
it comes [to this], that I have been too cautious in not admitting great
and sudden variations. Here again comes in the mischief of my abstract.
In fuller MS. I have discussed the parallel case of a normal fish like a
monstrous gold-fish.

I end my discussion by doubting, because all cases of monstrosities
which resemble normal structures which I could find were not in allied
groups. Trees like Aspicarpa (95/5. Aspicarpa, an American genus of
Malpighiaceae, is quoted in the "Origin" (Edition VI., page 367) as an
illustration of Linnaeus' aphorism that the characters do not give
the genus, but the genus gives the characters. During several years'
cultivation in France Aspicarpa produced only degraded flowers, which
differed in many of the most important points of structure from the
proper type of the order; but it was recognised by M. Richard that the
genus should be retained among the Malpighiaceae. "This case," adds
Darwin, "well illustrates the spirit of our classification."), with
flowers of two kinds (in the "Origin"), led me also to speculate on the
same subject; but I could find only one doubtfully analogous case of
species having flowers like the degraded or monst