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Darwin Correspondence Project

To H. N. Ridley   16 April [1877]1

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

April. 16th

Dear Sir

I am much obliged to you for so kindly sending me the Saxifrage, & am glad to hear about the gnats.—2 In my book on Insectivorous Plants, I have shown that the glands in this genus certainly possess some power of absorption.—3

Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from H. N. Ridley, 15 April 1877.
Ridley had sent CD specimens of Saxifraga tridactylites (rue-leaved saxifrage) with small gnats attached to the sticky hairs of the stems (see letter from H. N. Ridley, 15 April 1877).
See Insectivorous plants, pp. 345–48; CD mentioned Saxifraga tridactylites in a note on p. 346.

Bibliography

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

Summary

Thanks for Saxifraga. CD had shown in Insectivorous plants [pp. 345–7] that this genus had some powers of absorption.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-10931
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Henry Nicholas Ridley
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Letters to H. N. Ridley CLE–GUR, 1878–81: f. 43)
Physical description
ALS 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10931,” accessed on 19 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10931.xml

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