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Darwin Correspondence Project

From H. N. Ridley   15 April 1877

Exeter College. | Oxford.

April 15. 1877.

Sir.

I have taken the liberty to send to you several specimens of Saxifraga tridactylites by the viscous hairs of which minute Diptera are caught.1 I hope they will arrive with the insects adhering to the leaves. It seems to me but a little step from the mere adhesion of accidentally caught insects to the power of holding and consuming them which the Sundew possesses.2 Does not the red colour of the leaves serve to attract insects? I observe that the red leaves are generally more viscous than the green ones. It cannot be merely accidental that the Sundew and Saxifrage have red hairs.

I have observed no sign of inflection of the hairs when insects or meat are placed on it   I have never seen any insects except this species of Gnat, caught by this plant. It generally grows about here on old walls.

I remain Sir | Yours truly | H. N. Ridley.

Footnotes

Saxifraga tridactylites is rue-leaved saxifrage; it has red stems with sticky hairs.
Drosera, the genus of sundews, was the principal subject of CD’s experimental work for Insectivorous plants.

Bibliography

Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.

Summary

Sends specimens of Saxifraga tridactylites with insects caught by it. Asks if colour of leaves attracts insects.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-10930
From
Henry Nicholas Ridley
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Exeter College, Oxford
Source of text
DAR 86: B10–11
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10930,” accessed on 19 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10930.xml

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