To George Bentham 18 December [1857]1
Down Bromley Kent
Dec. 18th
My dear Sir
I am very much obliged for answers which were just what I wanted & quite as explicit as I expected.—2 I have had already occasion to put in a salvo about doubtful identification of plants experimentised on.—3 Cucubalus viscosus & Italicus are extremely sterile together as might have been expected from what you say. All the other forms are extremely fertile, only one degree below normal fertility, & which one degree of lessened fertility may, I believe, be accounted for by the requisite manipulation &c.—
Anyhow Gærtner finds the same slight degree of lessened fertility (or rather a greater degree of infertility) between Cowslip & Primrose, & the Blue & Red common Anagallis—4
With very many thanks | Yours sincerely | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Natural selection: Charles Darwin’s Natural selection: being the second part of his big species book written from 1856 to 1858. Edited by R. C. Stauffer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1975.
Summary
Thanks GB for his answers [to 2184], which were as explicit as he expected. Cucubalus viscosus and italicus are extremely sterile together; all other forms extremely fertile. Other instances of infertility found by Gärtner.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2189
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- George Bentham
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Bentham Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, 1830–1884, GEB/1/3: f. 700a)
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2189,” accessed on 16 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2189.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6
