I formerly received from a man, not a naturalist, staying at Cannes a similar account, but doubted about believing it.

The case, however, does not answer my query--viz., whether butterflies are attracted by bright colours, independently of the supposed presence of nectar?
I must own that I have great difficulty in believing that any temporary condition of the parents can affect the offspring.

If it last long enough to affect the health or structure of the parents, I can quite believe the offspring would be modified.

But how mysterious a subject is that of generation! Although my hypothesis of pangenesis has been reviled on all sides, yet I must still look at generation under this point of view; and it makes me very averse to believe in an emotion having any effect on the offspring.

Allow me to add one word about blushing and shyness: I intended only to say the habit was primordially acquired by attention to the face, and not that each shy man now attended to his personal appearance.
LETTER 259.