skip to content

Darwin Correspondence Project

To W. D. Crick   24 June [1879]

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

June 24th

Dear Sir

I do not think that there wd be any particular interest in the abnormality in question; but I have looked at several flowers & can see no trace of it. Can you have mistaken the upwardly folded connection between the 2 anther cells for a rudimentary anther-cell? I have somewhere alluded to this fold in comparing the structure of Ophrys & Orchis.—1

Dear Sir | yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

Crick’s letter, to which this letter is a response, has not been found. For CD’s description of the crest or fold of membrane between the anther cells in Orchis and the smooth surface between the two anthers in Ophrys, see Orchids, pp. 10, 18 (fig. D), 45–6.

Bibliography

Orchids: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862.

Summary

Thinks there is no particular interest in the abnormality in question.

Also CD has looked at several flowers and believes WDC may be mistaken in believing there is a rudimentary anther cell.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-12117
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Walter Drawbridge Crick
Sent from
Down
Postmark
JU 24 79
Source of text
The Huntington Library (HM 36235)
Physical description
ALS 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12117,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12117.xml

letter