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To Alexander Goodman More   24 June [1869]

Down Beckenham | Kent

June 24th

Dear Sir

I have not heard for some time how your health is; if still weak pray forgive me for troubling you, & burn this note.1 But if you are well & inclined to take a little expedition, I shd. be very grateful, if you wd. endeavour once again on a fine day to observe during half an hour what insects visit Epipactis palustris, & especially how they make their entrance into and exit from the flowers. Perhaps you wd be so good as to read my description of the supposed manner.—2

This is the point about which I am most curious, & secondly the kind of insect (which I shd be glad to see and get named) for I have now clearly ascertained that Ep. latifolia is regularly and exclusively fertilised by wasps.—3 The motive for my applying this year is that I have drawn up some notes & corrections for a French Translation of my Orchis book, & these notes I shall also publish in English.—4

Pray forgive me for troubling you, & if in your power I believe that you will kindly feel inclined to aid me.

Dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

1
CD’s last extant letter to More is that of 1 October [1862] (see Correspondence vol. 10). More’s letters to CD have not been found.
2
See Orchids, pp. 99–102. More had sent specimens of Epipactis palustris to CD and assisted him in his research (see Orchids, pp. 99 n., 101 n.).
3
CD recorded his observation of Epipactis latifolia (a synonym of E. helleborine) being pollinated by wasps in a note in DAR 70: 56, dated 13 August 1863. For his published references to wasps pollinating E. latifolia, see ‘Fertilization of orchids’, p. 150 (Collected papers 2: 146–7), and Orchids 2d ed., pp. 101–2.
4
CD refers to Rérolle trans. 1870 (French translation of Orchids), and ‘Fertilization of orchids’. CD’s account of More’s latest experiments on Epipactis palustris is in ‘Fertilization of orchids’, pp. 149–50 (Collected papers 2: 146). See also Orchids 2d ed., pp. 98–9. More removed part of the labellum of the flower, to ascertain how important it was to pollination.

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.]

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

Orchids: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862.

Summary

Asks AGM to observe fertilisation of Epipactis palustris. Has found that E. latifolia is fertilised by wasps.

Making revisions for French edition of Orchids.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-6801
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Alexander Goodman More
Sent from
Caerdeon Down letterhead
Source of text
DAR 146: 408
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6801,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6801.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17

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