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From J. T. Moggridge   10 May [1866]1

Villa Christiana | Cannes

May 10

Dear Mr. Darwin

I send you per grand Vitesse 2 a box of Orchids.—

I fear that the hot weather will spoil many of them—

I have quite failed to obtain any self-fertilizing specimens of Oph. scolopax Cav.3

I send Oph. apifera Huds.4

— scolopax Cav.

— Bertolonii Guss

Serapias Cordigera L.5

Orchis papilionacea L. (?)

Neotinea intacta Rchb.6

We propose starting for England on Monday next & I shall hope to bring a box of Orchids with me—

Believe me yrs. very sincerely | J. Traherne Moggridge.

Ch. Darwin Esqre

Footnotes

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from H. E. Darwin, [c. 10 May 1866].
3
Moggridge had observed two forms of Ophrys scolopax; one found at Cannes was self-fertile, another found at Mentone was not (see Correspondence vol. 12, letter to J. T. Moggridge, 19 June [1864] and n. 6, and Moggridge 1864, p. 252). CD cited Moggridge’s description of the orchid in ‘Fertilization of orchids’, p. 145 (Collected papers 2: 142), and Orchids 2d ed., pp. 52, 292–3.
4
For CD’s interest in Ophrys apifera, see the letter to H. E. Darwin, [14–21 April 1866] and n. 3.
5
In Orchids 2d ed., p. 27, CD referred to Moggridge’s description of Serapias cordigera (the heart-flowered serapias; Moggridge 1864, p. 258). See also Correspondence vol. 12, letter to J. T. Moggridge, 19 June [1864] and plate facing p. 248.
6
See letter from H. E. Darwin, [c. 10 May 1866] and n. 5.

Bibliography

Collected papers: The collected papers of Charles Darwin. Edited by Paul H. Barrett. 2 vols. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 1977.

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

‘Fertilization of orchids’: Notes on the fertilization of orchids. By Charles Darwin. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 4th ser. 4 (1869): 141–59. [Collected papers 2: 138–56.]

Moggridge, John Traherne. 1864. Observations on some orchids of the south of France. [Read 3 November 1864.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 8 (1865): 256–8.

Orchids 2d ed.: The various contrivances by which orchids are fertilised by insects. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition, revised. London: John Murray. 1877.

Summary

Sends a box of orchids.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-5084
From
John Traherne Moggridge
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Cannes
Source of text
DAR 171: 205
Physical description
ALS 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5084,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5084.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 14

letter

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