To T. H. Farrer 5 June 1868
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
June 5 1868
My dear Mr Farrer
I must write a line to cry peccavi. I have seen the action in Ophrys exactly as you describe & am thoroughly ashamed of my inaccuracy. I find that the pollinia do not move if kept in a very damp atmosphere under a glass; so that it is just possible, tho’ very improbable, that I may have observed them during a very damp day.1
I am not much surprized that I overlooked the movement in habenaria as it takes so long.2
I am glad you have seen Listera; it requires to be seen to believe in the co-ordination in the position of the parts, the irritability, & the chemical nature of the viscid fluid.3
This reminds me that I carefully described to Huxley the shooting out of the Pollinia in Catasetum, & received for an answer “Do you really think that I can believe all that.”4
My dear Mr Farrer | yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
P.S. | I cd. find no fly in the nectary of the orchis just received; but there was a minute insect in one flower stuck fast to the viscid stigma.—5
C. D.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
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
"I have seen the action on Ophrys exactly as you describe and am thoroughly ashamed of my inaccuracy."
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6230
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st baronet and 1st Baron Farrer
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Linnean Society of London (LS Ms 299/3)
- Physical description
- LS(A) 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6230,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6230.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16