To D. F. Nevill 12 September [1874]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
Sept. 12th
Dear Lady Dorothy Nevill
I have never seen the Utricularia of which Dr. Hooker told me & which I am nearly sure is the one which you have so very kindly sent me;2 & therefore I do not know what the bladders are like. From analogy I suppose that they are little globular bodies borne on separate footstalks. All that I can see on the young plant sent to me, are slight swellings in the footstalks of the leaves. Dr Hooker will be here in a fortnight, & then I will consult him.3 It would be a very great kindness if you would tell your head gardener to look at the young plants, as they grow a little taller & observe whether any little balls or bladders are produced on little short footstalks, & if so let me see the plants.— Whether with my indifferent means & ignorant gardener I shall succeed in growing the Utricularia, I know not.—4
I have much pleasure in enclosing my photograph.—5
Your Siamese cat must be a very curious animal.6
Pray believe me | Your Ladyships | Most truly obliged | Ch. Darwin
P.S. | I shd guess that the so-called bladders on your Utricularia wd be about as big as one or two pin’s head, & carried on a short footstalk; & it is the internal structure of these bodies which I am so anxious to examine
Footnotes
Summary
CD has never before seen the Utricularia DN has sent. Hooker had told him about it. Asks that her gardener observe young Utricularia: CD is interested in internal structure of little balls on bladders.
Sends photograph.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9634
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Dorothy Fanny Walpole/Dorothy Fanny Nevill
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9634,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9634.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22