To Charles Lyell 31 October [1867]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
Oct 31st.
My dear Lyell
Emma2 has got a bad-headach, so I write direct to you— Mr. Weale sent to me from Natal a small packet of dry locust-dung, under oz, with the statement that it is believed that they introduce new plants into a district. This statement, however, must be very doubtful. From this packet, 7 (seven) plants have germinated, belonging to at least two kinds of grasses. There is no error, for I dissected some of the seeds out of the middle of the pellets.3 It deserves notice that Locusts are sometimes blown far out to sea; I caught one 370 miles from Africa, & I have heard of much greater differences.
You might like to hear the following case as it relates to a migratory bird, belonging to the most wandering of all orders, viz. the Woodcock. The tarsus was firmly coated with mud weighing when dry nine grains, & from this the Juncus bufonius or Toad-rush germinated.4 By the way the Locust case verifies what I said in the ‘Origin’ that many possible means of distribution would be hereafter discovered.5 I quite agree about the extreme difficulty of the distrib: of land Mollusca. You will have seen in the last edit: of ‘Origin’ that my observations on the effect of sea water have been confirmed.6 I still suspect that the legs of birds which roost on the ground may be an efficient means; but I was interrupted when going to make trials on this subject & have never resumed it.7
We shall be in London in the middle or latter part of Novr. when I shall much enjoy seeing you. Emma sends her love & many thanks for Lady Lyell’s note.8
Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
P.S. My brother is at home now— You can of course, use anything in this note.9
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Lyell, Charles. 1867–8. Principles of geology or the modern changes of the earth and its inhabitants considered as illustrative of geology. 10th edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray.
Origin 4th ed.: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 4th edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1866.
Origin 5th ed.: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 5th edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1869.
Summary
Describes seeds transported in locust dung. Discusses other cases of transport and migration.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5659
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Charles Lyell, 1st baronet
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.336)
- Physical description
- LS(A) 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5659,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5659.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 15