From J. I. Rogers to Francis Darwin 6 June 1878
119, Cannon Street, | London, | E.C.
6th. June 1878
Dear Sir,
I think you told me that the Sensitive plant closes up at night.1 On enquiry of an Indian brother I find that there are plenty of snails, about Calcutta at any rate2 Though very different to ou⟨rs⟩ they are larger & more destructive. If they are night feeding like ours are, (and my brother thinks they are), the closing up of the leaves & the exposure of the prickles would be protective, especially if the body of the ⟨sn⟩ail be soft like ours. It would a⟨lso⟩ be equally protective against slugs, if there are any in the tropics: and in a lesser degree against animals that browse at night.
Yours faithfly | J Innes Rogers
F. Darwin Esq.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Movement in plants: The power of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. 1880.
Summary
Suggests sensitive plants that close at night would be protected from nocturnal-feeding snails. JIR’s brother in India says snails occur there in abundance.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11545
- From
- John Innes Rogers
- To
- Francis Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Cannon St, 119
- Source of text
- DAR 176: 198
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp damaged
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11545,” accessed on
