To William Ogle 22 July [1876]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
July 22d
My dear Dr. Ogle
In my next book I have a discussion on bees perforating flowers, & I shd. much like to give your case of blue & white Monks-hood (Aconitum napellus) which I think was the species to which you referred.2 This would not at all prevent your publishing separately. If you do not object will you give me the details so that I may introduce a sentence or two. But I must send my M.S. immediately to the Printers, so shd. be grateful for a prompt answer3
Do you know whether the plant is sterile if insects are excluded? It probably is so, as Sprengel says it is proterandrous.4
Believe me | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Cross and self fertilisation: The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1876.
Sprengel, Christian Konrad. 1793. Das entdeckte Geheimniss der Natur im Bau und in der Befruchtung der Blumen. Berlin: Friedrich Vieweg.
Summary
Would like to cite WO’s case of bees perforating white but not blue monkshood (Aconitum napellus) in his next book [Cross and self-fertilisation, pp. 427–8]. Believes it is probably sterile if insects are excluded.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10563
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Ogle
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 261.5: 16 (EH 88205914)
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10563,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10563.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24