To G. H. Darwin [before 9 October 1880]1
[Down.]
My dear George.
There was heavy rain last night & this morning here, & the walk under the Limes was flooded & water flowed down it. The fruit of Lime-trees formed 12 transverse rows, like a ripple.— You will see by enclosed that each has a little stalk. Would such objects arrange themselves transversely to stream. At the end of each ripple, I think, but dare not say so positively, that the majority of the stalks projected transversely to the line of walk.2
Yours affectionately | C. Darwin
I was dismayed when I first saw them on the walk, for I did not see that each had a stalk.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Darwin, George Howard. 1883. On the formation of ripple-mark in sand. [Read 22 November 1883.] Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 36 (1883–4): 18–43.
Summary
Discusses how fruits of lime-trees arranged themselves in a ripple-like way on a flooded walk.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-12746
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- George Howard Darwin
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 210.1: 97
- Physical description
- ALS 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12746,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12746.xml