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Darwin Correspondence Project

To J. S. Burdon Sanderson   1 October [1873]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Oct 1.

My dear Dr. Sanderson.

I hear from Frank that Drosera has been behaving perversely.2 I write a line, as it may possibly have a bearing on this perversity, viz that the motor influence is sent from the excited glands more quickly & completely in a longitudinal than in a transverse direction in the lamina of the leaf.3

diagram

Yours very sincerely | Ch Darwin

Footnotes

The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to J. S. Burdon Sanderson, 9 September [1873].
For CD’s experiments on the transmission of the motor impulse in the tentacles of Drosera, see Insectivorous plants, pp. 236–54.

Bibliography

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

Summary

Hears from Frank [Darwin] that Drosera behaves perversely. Suggests that motor influence may move longitudinally away from the excited glands.

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9081,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9081.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21

letter