[InNovember，1880，hereceivedanaccountofafloodinBrazil，fromwhichhisfriendFritzMullerhadbarelyescapedwithhislife。MyfatherimmediatelywrotetoHermannMulleranxiouslyenquiringwhetherhisbrotherhadlostbooks，instruments，etc。，bythisaccident，andbegginginthatcase\"forthesakeofscience，sothatscienceshouldnotsuffer，\"tobeallowedtohelpinmakinggoodtheloss。Fortunately，however，theinjurytoFritzMuller’spossessionswasnotsogreataswasexpected，andtheincidentremainsonlyasamemento，whichItrustcannotbeotherwisethanpleasingtothesurvivor，ofthefriendshipofthetwonaturalists。
In’Nature’（November11，1880）appearedaletterfrommyfather，whichis，Ibelieve，theonlyinstanceinwhichhewrotepubliclywithanythinglikeseverity。ThelateSirWyvilleThomsonwrote，intheIntroductiontothe’Voyageofthe\"Challenger\"’:\"Thecharacteroftheabyssalfaunarefusestogivetheleastsupporttothetheorywhichreferstheevolutionofspeciestoextremevariationguidedonlybynaturalselection。\"Myfather，aftercharacterisingtheseremarksasa\"standardofcriticism，notuncommonlyreachedbytheologiansandmetaphysicians，\"goesontotakeexceptiontotheterm\"extremevariation，\"andchallengesSirWyvilletonameanyonewhohas\"saidthattheevolutionofspeciesdependsonlyonnaturalselection。\"ThelettercloseswithanimaginaryscenebetweenSirWyvilleandabreeder，inwhichSirWyvillecriticisesartificialselectioninasomewhatsimilarmanner。Thebreederissilent，butonthedepartureofhiscriticheissupposedtomakeuseof\"emphaticbutirreverentlanguageaboutnaturalists。\"Theletter，asoriginallywritten，endedwithaquotationfromSedgwickontheinvulnerabilityofthosewhowriteonwhattheydonotunderstand，butthiswasomittedontheadviceofafriend，andcuriouslyenoughafriendwhosecombativenessinthegoodcausemyfatherhadoccasionallycurbed。]
CHARLESDARWINTOG。J。ROMANES。
Down，April16，1881。
MydearRomanes，MyMS。on’Worms’hasbeensenttotheprinters，soIamgoingtoamusemyselfbyscribblingtoyouonafewpoints;butyoumustnotwasteyourtimeinansweringatanylengththisscribble。