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Darwin Correspondence Project

To Fritz Müller   22 October 1881

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.) [66 Hills Road, Cambridge.]

Oct 22d. 1881

My dear Sir

I must write a few words to thank you for the seeds & for your letter of Sept 6th..1 The case of the Crotalaria is most remarkable in many ways, & I am extremely glad that you have sent an account of this plant to Kosmos.2 I am writing this note in Cambridge, where I have come to stay with one of my sons & get a little rest, of which I stood in much need.3 I saw F. Balfour last night. I am now reading his Comparative Embryology, which seems to me a wonderful book. I hope that you received the copy which he sent you through me.4 I read lately your most interesting paper on Atyoidea in Kosmos.5

With all good wishes & thanks | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

I sent you a copy the other day of my little book on Earth-worms,—a subject of no importance but which has long interested me.—6

Footnotes

2
In his letter of 6, 7, and 9 September 1881, Müller had described the nyctitropic movements of Crotalaria cajanaefolia (a misspelling of C. cajanifolia, chipilin). Müller’s article on Crotalaria cajanaefolia appeared in Kosmos, December 1881 (F. Müller 1881c).
3
The Darwins visited Cambridge, staying with their son Horace Darwin and his wife, Ida, from 20 to 27 October 1881 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).
4
CD had received two copies of Balfour 1880–1 and arranged with Balfour to send the spare copy to Müller as a gift from Balfour (see letter to F. M. Balfour, 6 July 1881, and letter from F. M. Balfour, 10 July 1881).
5
Müller’s paper was ‘Atyoida Potimirim, eine schlammfressende Süsswassergarneele’ (Atyoida Potimirim, a mud-eating freshwater shrimp; F. Müller 1881a). Atyoida potimirim is a synonym of Potimirim potimirim, the tiny or neon shrimp.
6
Müller’s name is on CD’s presentation list for Earthworms (see Appendix IV).

Bibliography

Balfour, Francis Maitland. 1880–1. A treatise on comparative embryology. 2 vols. London: Macmillan & Co.

Earthworms: The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with observations on their habits. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1881.

Müller, Fritz. 1881d. Atyoida Potimirim, eine schlammfressende Süsswassergarneele. Kosmos 9: 117–24.

Müller, Fritz. 1881f. Eine Pflanze, welche bei Nacht die Himmelsgegenden anzeigt. Kosmos 10: 212–14.

Summary

Is in Cambridge with his son, resting

and reading F. M. Balfour’s Comparative embryology [1880–1].

Sent FM a copy of Earthworms.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-13419
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller
Sent from
Cambridge Down letterhead
Source of text
The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 55)
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13419,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13419.xml

letter

Darwin Correspondence Project
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