To Gardeners’ Chronicle [16 August 1841]
Summary
Reports detailed observations on humble-bees boring holes in flowers to extract nectar instead of brushing over the stamens and pistils. Some hive-bees seem to use the holes made by the humble-bees; speculates that this would be a case of acquired knowledge in insects.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Gardeners’ Chronicle |
| Date: | [16 Aug 1841] |
| Classmark: | Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette no. 34, 21 August 1841, p. 550 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-607 |
From Catherine Darwin 8 July 1841
Summary
Describes the appearance and occurrence of imperfect flowers of "Hex.[?] Trigynia".
| Author: | Emily Catherine (Catherine) Darwin; Emily Catherine (Catherine) Langton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 July 1841 |
| Classmark: | DAR 109: A95 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-603 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … plants cultivated in the Cambridge Botanic Garden. 10th ed. , with numerous additions and …
| letter | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (1) |
| Darwin, Catherine | (1) |
| Langton, Catherine | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (1) |
| Gardeners’ Chronicle | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (2) |
| Darwin, Catherine | (1) |
| Gardeners’ Chronicle | (1) |
| Langton, Catherine | (1) |
17 Spring Gardens, London
Summary
Darwin in London preparing for the voyage
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin is living in London persuading Fitzroy to accept him on the voyage and preparing clothing, …
Photograph album of Dutch admirers
Summary
Darwin received the photograph album for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from his scientific admirers in the Netherlands. He wrote to the Dutch zoologist Pieter Harting, An account of your countrymen’s generous sympathy in having sent me on my…
Matches: 1 hits
- … with his works. In 1868, Darwin wrote to the zoological gardens in Amsterdam (Natura Artis …
Descent
Summary
There are more than five hundred letters associated with the research and writing of Darwin’s book, Descent of man and selection in relation to sex (Descent). They trace not only the tortuous route to eventual publication, but the development of Darwin’s…
Matches: 1 hits
- … a multitude of breeders & visiting them & the zoological Gardens ’. One of those breeders …
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
Here is a list of people that appeared in the photograph album Darwin received for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from scientific admirers in the Netherlands. Many thanks to Hester Loeff for identifying and researching them. No. …
Matches: 9 hits
- … Anthony) Director of the Rotterdam Zoological Gardens, President of the Netherland …
- … de Piscieulturist at the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens "Natura Artis Magistra" …
- … President of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens "Natura Artis Magistra" …
- … Director of the Hague Royal Zoological Botanical Gardens. 54 Den Haag 28 may …
- … A Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Magistra”. …
- … A Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Mag.” …
- … Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Magistra”. …
- … Assistant Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Mag.” …
- … of the Leijden University’s Royal Botanical Gardens. Leiden …
Before Origin: the ‘big book’
Summary
Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his eight-year study of barnacles (Darwin's Journal). He had long considered the question of species. In 1842, he outlined a theory of transmutation in a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … to ‘experimentise’ on the hawks in the Zoological Gardens . He was delighted when the birds …
Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants
Summary
Darwin became increasingly involved in botanical experiments in the years after the publication of Origin. The building of a small hothouse - a heated greenhouse - early in 1863 greatly increased the range of plants that he could keep for scientific…
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
List of people appearing in the photograph album Darwin received from scientific admirers in the Netherlands for his birthday on 12 February 1877. We are grateful to Hester Loeff for providing this list and for permission to make her research available.…
Matches: 9 hits
- … Anthony) Director of the Rotterdam Zoological Gardens, President of the Netherland …
- … de Pisciculturist at the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens "Natura Artis Magistra" …
- … President of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens "Natura Artis Magistra" …
- … Director of the Hague Royal Zoological Botanical Gardens. 54 Den Haag 28 May …
- … A Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Magistra”. …
- … A Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Magistra”. …
- … Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Magistra”. …
- … Assistant Director of the Amsterdam Royal Zoological Gardens “Natura Artis Magistra”. …
- … of the Leijden University’s Royal Botanical Gardens. Leiden …
Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year
Summary
The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 2 April 1874 ), a high price that aggrieved Darwin. Gardens and gardeners Darwin’s …
Orchids
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment A project to follow On the Origin of Species Darwin began to observe English orchids and collect specimens from abroad in the years immediately following the publication of On the Origin of Species. Examining…
Darwin’s queries on expression
Summary
When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations more widely and composed a list of queries on human expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller…
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Summary
The 1400 letters exchanged between Darwin and Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) account for around 10% of Darwin’s surviving correspondence and provide a structure within which all the other letters can be explored. They are a connecting thread that spans…
Matches: 3 hits
Instinct and the Evolution of Mind
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Slave-making ants For Darwin, slave-making ants were a powerful example of the force of instinct. He used the case of the ant Formica sanguinea in the On the Origin of Species to show how instinct operates—how…
Dipsacus and Drosera: Frank’s favourite carnivores
Summary
In Autumn of 1875, Francis Darwin was busy researching aggregation in the tentacles of Drosera rotundifolia (F. Darwin 1876). This phenomenon occurs when coloured particles within either protoplasm or the fluid in the cell vacuole (the cell sap) cluster…
Matches: 3 hits
Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments
Summary
The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…
Matches: 4 hits
- … and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and J. D. Hooker’s father, …
- … Scott in 1862, when Scott was working at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, that he should repeat …
- … had recently accepted the position of curator of the botanic gardens at Calcutta. Scott eventually …
- … had been offered the directorship of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew ( letter from F. H. Hooker, 13 …
4.51 Frederick Holder 'Life and Work'
Summary
< Back to Introduction A popular biography of Darwin for young readers by the American naturalist Charles Frederick Holder, published in 1891, sought to present him as ‘an example to the youth of all lands’ (p. v). Thus ‘our hero’ was shown to have…
Matches: 1 hits
- … can be seen a distant view of Down House amid its trees and gardens, with smoke rising from the …
British Association meeting 1860
Summary
Several letters refer to events at the British Association for the Advancement of Science held in Oxford, 26 June – 3 July 1860. Darwin had planned to attend the meeting but in the end was unable to. The most famous incident of the meeting was the verbal…
Matches: 1 hits
- … by Natural Selection—a theory open—like the Zoological Gardens (from a particular cage in which it …
The Lyell–Lubbock dispute
Summary
In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book Prehistoric times, accused Lyell of plagiarism. The dispute caused great dismay among many of their mutual scientific friends, some of whom took immediate action…
'An Appeal' against animal cruelty
Summary
The four-page pamphlet transcribed below and entitled 'An Appeal', was composed jointly by Emma and Charles Darwin (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [29 September 1863]). The pamphlet, which protested against the cruelty of steel vermin…
Matches: 1 hits
- … for the prize, was held at the Royal Horticultural Gardens, South Kensington, in June 1864 ( The …
Darwin's bad days
Summary
Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and experimenting, even Darwin had some bad days. These times when nothing appeared to be going right are well illustrated by the following quotations from his letters:
Matches: 1 hits
- … Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and …
4.13 'Fun' cartoon by Griset, 'Emotional'
Summary
< Back to Introduction Ernest Griset’s drawing titled ‘Emotional!’ was published in Fun magazine on 23 November 1872, and is another skit referring to Darwin’s recently published Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. A hippopotamus had been…
Matches: 1 hits
- … A hippopotamus had been born at the London Zoological Gardens on 5 November, exciting great public …
