To John Lubbock 17 November 1871
Summary
Praises and comments on JL’s essay on insects ["Origin of insects", J. Linn. Soc. Lond. 11 (1873): 422–5].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
| Date: | 17 Nov 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 261.7: 7 (EH 88205932) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8072 |
Matches: 9 hits
- … Praises and comments on JL’s essay on insects ["Origin …
- … of insects", J. Linn. Soc. Lond. 11 (1873): 422–5]. …
- … glad to have learnt with certainty how insects acquired their wings! | Ever yours | Ch. …
- … located in different places in different insect groups, and suggesting how thoracic and …
- … do not you suppose that the wings of this insect have been reduced for the special purpose …
- … CD refers to Lubbock’s article ‘On the origin of insects’ ( Lubbock 1871b ). …
- … Lubbock suggested that the wings of insects had originated as organs for aquatic …
- … He gave the example of the aquatic insect, Polynema natans (a parasitic wasp of the family …
- … p. 425). Lubbock had first described the insect in 1862 (see Correspondence vol. 10, …
To Gardeners’ Chronicle [4–5 June 1860]
Summary
Wants to hear from readers about the way in which the bee-orchid (Ophrys apifera) is fertilised. He has always found it to be self-fertilised but greatly doubts that the flowers of any plant are fertilised for generations by their own pollen. The bee-orchid has sticky glands, which would make it adapted for fertilisation by insects; this makes him want to hear what happens to its pollen-masses in places he has not observed.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Gardeners’ Chronicle |
| Date: | [4 or 5] June 1860 |
| Classmark: | Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, 9 June 1860, p. 528 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2826 |
Matches: 22 hits
- … fertilisation. CD agreed with Brown that insects do not visit this particular species, but …
- … make it adapted for fertilisation by insects; this makes him want to hear what happens to …
- … adapted for self-fertilisation without insect agency—which makes me anxious to hear what …
- … in little pouches open in front. When an insect visits a flower, it almost necessarily, …
- … and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. …
- … in this part of the country by any means sufficiently often visited by insects, though the …
- … visits of insects are indispensable to its fertilisation. So with the Bee Orchis, though …
- … particular seasons it may be visited by insects, and in this case, as its pollen masses …
- … glands, being adapted for fertilisation by insect agency—another part, namely the natural …
- … firmly adhere to the head or body of the insect, and thus the pollen-masses are drawn out …
- … stigmatic surface mutually adapted, that an insect with an adherent pollen-mass will drag …
- … is certain that with most of our common Orchids insects are absolutely necessary for their …
- … reconcileable with their fertilisation having been accidentally effected by insects. But I …
- … could give many facts showing how effectually insects do their work; two cases will here …
- … generally, fertilised by the pollen brought by insects from another flower or plant. I may …
- … have never seen a bee or any other diurnal insect (excepting once a butterfly) visit them; …
- … leads to this same conclusion; for no insect without a very long and extremely fine …
- … nor can they be shaken out; so that insect-agency is necessary, as with the species of the …
- … other genera, for their fertilisation. But insects here do their work far less effectually …
- … of the pollen-masses carried away by insects, or ever saw the flower’s own pollen-masses …
- … consequently believed that the visits of insects would be injurious to the fertilisation …
- … some years or in some other districts, insects do visit the Bee Orchis and occasionally …
From Thomas Vernon Wollaston 2 March [1855]
Summary
Hybrid insects.
Description of the Salvages.
Variability of "transition groups" of insects; relation of variability to ranges of insects. The variability of wings, even within species. Reduction of flying ability on isolated islands.
Forbes’s "Atlantis" theory and insect fauna of the Atlantic islands, considered with regard to insect migrations.
| Author: | Thomas Vernon Wollaston |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 2 Mar [1855] |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 136 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1640 |
Matches: 26 hits
- … Hybrid insects. Description of the Salvages. …
- … Variability of "transition groups" of insects; relation of variability …
- … to ranges of insects. The variability of wings, even within species. …
- … ability on isolated islands. Forbes’s "Atlantis" theory and insect fauna of the Atlantic …
- … islands, considered with regard to insect migrations. …
- … Wollaston described his views on the creation of insects on Madeira in Wollaston 1857 . …
- … He divided the insects into those created on the island, those which migrated there during …
- … Insecta Maderensia; being an account of the insects of the islands of the Madeiran group . …
- … Vernon. 1857. Catalogue of the coleopterous insects of Madeira in the collection of the …
- … that I consider some few of even the Dezertan insects as having been introduced. — 3. …
- … The 6 th . Salvagian insect (which you appear to have overlooked) is the opatrum …
- … p. xiii), on the common -ness of certain insects, is intended to mean this: viz. that the …
- … of observation & fact , it is the “commonest” insects (i.e. to say, those which are most …
- … northerly movement throughout the whole insect-fauna of this region; or, in other words, …
- … state that they tell the same story as the insects,—only (if I understand them aright) far …
- … 5.15] crossed pencil ; ‘ On Commonness of Insects ’ added brown crayon 6.1 “transition … “ …
- … xii). CD discussed the origin of apterous insects, with special reference to Wollaston’s …
- … This explanation for the existence of wingless insects is proposed in the letter to J. D. …
- … were, the structure which obtains in the 2 insects, the serration being extremely powerful …
- … greater instability amongst those insects w h . were observed under all circumstances (I …
- … I ought not properly to have spoken of insects as “apterous”, but rather as “with the …
- … of the case. It certainly is so with many insects in our own country; but I never realised …
- … I suspect that we must view the same insect in countries far distant (or, at any rate, …
- … Iberian Saxifrages from Gallicia, & my insects wandered northwards through this Atlantic …
- … place at no very remote period after its insect fauna came into being; or, at any rate, …
- … by observation. So far as I know of the Insect fauna of the Canaries, the Salvages, …
To B. D. Walsh 27 March [1865]
Summary
Comments on BDW’s papers ["On certain entomological speculations of the New England school of naturalists", Proc. Entomol. Soc. Philadelphia 3 (1864): 207–49; "On insects inhabiting the galls of certain species of willow", ibid. 3 (1864): 543–644]; much is new to CD.
Asks about wide-ranging insect genera,
Rocky Mt. wingless insects,
willow hybrids,
galls,
and other subjects.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Benjamin Dann Walsh |
| Date: | 27 Mar [1865] |
| Classmark: | Field Musuem of Natural History, Chicago (Walsh 3) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4797 |
Matches: 19 hits
- … his discussion of the development of wingless insects on the island of Madeira in Origin , …
- … Soc. Philadelphia 3 (1864): 207–49; "On insects inhabiting the galls of certain species of …
- … 3 (1864): 543–644]; much is new to CD. Asks about wide-ranging insect genera, Rocky Mt. …
- … wingless insects, willow hybrids, galls, and other subjects. …
- … to truly Alpine insects; for w d it not be destruction to them to be blown from their …
- … Charles Darwin If you publish on wingless insects, kindly inform me or send, if you can, a …
- … Henry Walter. 1861. Contributions to an insect fauna of the Amazon valley. Lepidoptera : …
- … the first part of Walsh 1864–5 , in which Walsh discussed the influence of insects’ food- …
- … plants on insect variation and speciation, arguing that feeding on distinct …
- … over time, produce distinct species of insects, or what he called phytophagic species. CD’ …
- … this does not occur with widely ranging insect-genera? You may like to hear that Wichura …
- … a first rate man. Your case of the wingless insects near the Rocky mountains is extremely …
- … I think on the Caucasus. W d not my argument about wingless insular insects perhaps apply …
- … the larvae of one species of gall-making insect feed on a given genus of plants, many more …
- … 3). CD’s curiosity regarding gall-making insects and hybrid willows was also stimulated by …
- … Walsh’s discussion of which gall-making insect species inhabited particular species of …
- … observations on various gall-making insects inhabiting different species of willow. CD …
- … that Walsh experiment with inserting insect and other poisons into plant tissues (see …
- … whose larvae inhabited the galls of other insects in Walsh 1864b , pp. 619–34; he noted …
From Mary Treat 8 June 1874
Summary
Sends her observations on Dionaea capturing insects. [See Insectivorous plants, pp. 311–12.]
| Author: | Mary Lua Adelia (Mary) Davis; Mary Lua Adelia (Mary) Treat |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 June 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 58.1: 58–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9485 |
Matches: 12 hits
- … her observations on Dionaea capturing insects. [See Insectivorous plants , pp. 311–12. ] …
- … during a large part of each day, while the insects are the most active. I have over thirty …
- … closing of each leaf, and the kind of insect it captures, and the number of days before it …
- … had previously asked Treat for information on the size of insects caught by Dionaea (Venus …
- … fly trap), suspecting that small insects were able to escape ( Correspondence vol. 21, …
- … pp. 311–12, that it was advantageous to the plants to trap only larger insects. CD used …
- … by Treat as evidence that strong insects could occasionally escape from Dionaea ( …
- … weeks ago a leaf captured a homopterous insect ( Metapodius nasulus ), nearly as large as …
- … a disagreeable odor, peculiar to this class of insects; and to my surprise the leaf opened …
- … yesterday in good condition, and there was nothing left of the insect but the shell. …
- … something about these plants that attract insects. Honey-bees wander over the earth close …
- … yet been caught. You asked what kind of insect Dionaea commonly caught. It most commonly …
From E. J. Johnston 16 March 1875
Summary
Reports an Araujia in Portugal that captures various insects on the horns of its stigma. Relates this to another asclepiad, Apocynum, which also captures insects. Is this "insectivory" or insect fertilisation?
| Author: | Edwin John Johnston |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 16 Mar 1875 |
| Classmark: | DAR 168: 74 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9890 |
Matches: 13 hits
- … Reports an Araujia in Portugal that captures various insects on the horns of its stigma. …
- … Relates this to another asclepiad, Apocynum , which also captures insects. …
- … Is this "insectivory" or insect fertilisation? …
- … were engaged upon the investigation of insect-capturing plants, I am reminded of a very …
- … trunk’ to refer to the proboscis of the insects. The cabbage white butterfly is Pieris …
- … passing by the plant, it struck me that the insects remained rather longer than usual upon …
- … angle, and close upon the trunk of the insect when it gets between them. But no such …
- … were abortive. ) However, as no dead insects were found on the flowers, it would seem that …
- … by Knapp as not relaxing its hold upon its insect captives until they are dead from sheer …
- … me at the time, that the detention of the insects would in some way or other contribute to …
- … the sight of the captive and struggling insects would certainly attract attention. Should …
- … by the vibration of the wings. How the insects were caught, is the interesting question, …
- … answer. My conjecture is, that the insects, after alighting on the flower and extracting …
From W. C. Marshall 5 September [1874]
Summary
Sends Pinguicula vulgaris leaves with seeds on them, together with his observations on proportion of leaves with insects on them.
| Author: | William Cecil (Bill) Marshall |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 5 Sept [1874] |
| Classmark: | DAR 58.1: 128–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9626 |
Matches: 12 hits
- … on them, together with his observations on proportion of leaves with insects on them. …
- … w h . you will see that 79 per cent of the leaves I have examined had insects on them. …
- … I have counted the remains of insects w h . had apparently been some time on the leaf & …
- … a list Marshall was compiling, noting the number of insects found on Pinguicula leaves and …
- … the proportion of leaves with insects ( letter to W. C. Marshall, [after 30 August …
- … Pinguicula could digest seeds as well as insects (see letter to W. T. Thiselton Dyer, 9 …
- … w h . I c d . not have recognised as insects without the aid of a magnifying glass. I …
- … also counted in several small spiders. The insects were for the most part small gnats & …
- … tetralix With regard to the secretion from insects, I can not trace it; I observe fluid on …
- … is a secretion of the plant, or from the insect, or merely rain water lodged, I can not …
- … leaves to curl tightly over entrapped insects that get near the edge, & the same applies …
- … patches & in one or two cases holes under insect remains, I supose this is the result of …
To Gardeners’ Chronicle [before 9 February 1861]
Summary
Discusses the possible explanation of why fly-orchid plants in a correspondent’s garden had no pollen-masses removed while Orchis maculata had all of its pollen-masses removed. CD points out that different orchids are fertilised by different insects. The insects needed to fertilise the fly-orchid may not have inhabited the site of the correspondent’s garden.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Gardeners’ Chronicle |
| Date: | [before 9 Feb 1861] |
| Classmark: | Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, 9 February 1861, p. 122 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3061 |
Matches: 12 hits
- … masses removed. CD points out that different orchids are fertilised by different insects. …
- … The insects needed to fertilise the fly-orchid may not have inhabited the site of the …
- … and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. …
- … is not perhaps aware that different insects haunt different Orchids, and are necessary for …
- … would not be perpetuated unless the proper insects inhabited the site. I have now Goodyera …
- … to see next summer whether our southern insects discover or appreciate the nectar of this …
- … Fertilisation of British Orchids by Insect Agency ’. CD refers to a letter by William …
- … heading ‘Fertilisation of British orchids by insect agency’. Marshall was responding to …
- … of the flowers had been removed by insects, ‘for it seems a strange fact that a plant …
- … papers 2: 34). CD identified various insects that pollinated different species of orchids …
- … be visited and fertilised by different insects. In Listera, for instance, it is chiefly …
- … bog, and it was immediately visited by some insect, and its pollen-masses were removed. On …
From Fritz Müller 17 June 1868
Summary
Again thanks CD for trouble in arranging for translation of Für Darwin.
Sends addition answering critics of his idea of insect metamorphosis [see Möller ed. 1915–21, 1: 259].
Agrees with Charles Lyell’s suggested English title "Facts and arguments in favor of Darwin", although perhaps more accurate to call it "Darwinism tested by Carcinology" or "Carcinology as bearing on the origin of species".
Says any profit should go to CD for his trouble and expense with the translation.
Thanks for seeds of Eschscholtzia.
Gives observations on number of climbing plants, including Dilleniacea, Marantacea, Catasetum.
| Author: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 17 June 1868 |
| Classmark: | Möller ed. 1915–21, 2: 141–3; W. S. Dallas trans. 1869, pp. 119–21 n. |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6248A |
Matches: 24 hits
- … inherited from the original parents of all Insects, and the “complete metamorphosis” of …
- … and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. …
- … addition answering critics of his idea of insect metamorphosis [see Möller ed. 1915–21, 1: …
- … with my opinion that the caterpillar and pupal states of insects have not been inherited …
- … from the ancestor of all insects but have been acquired subsequently, I therefore enclose …
- … modern and nineteenth-century systems of insect classification, see Gillot 1980, pp. 29, …
- … ein wenig zur Seite biegt (und ein Insect, welches seinen Rüssel in die lange Blumenröhre …
- … the so-called “ complete metamorphosis” of Insects, in which these animals quit the egg as …
- … inherited from the primitive ancestor of all Insects, but acquired at a later period. The …
- … approach nearest to the primitive form of Insects. In favour of this view we have:— 1. The …
- … make their appearance the earliest of all Insects, namely as early as the Carboniferous …
- … is therefore improbable that the oldest Insects should have possessed fewer segments than …
- … the original young form of the oldest Insects, and that the Orthoptera, with an abdomen of …
- … quite unlikely. Hopefully I can observe the insects at work next summer. When I inserted a …
- … Müller … goes so far as to believe that the progenitor of all insects probably resembled …
- … an adult insect, and that the caterpillar or maggot, and cocoon or pupal stages, have …
- … 3, above. Pseudoneuroptera: ‘an order of insects in some classifications, resembling the …
- … to regard the Orthoptera as the order of Insects approaching most nearly to the common …
- … is distinguished from that of the adult Insect almost solely by the want of wings; these …
- … youngest larva to the sexually mature Insect, preserves in a far higher degree the picture …
- … pupa- and imago-states. The most ancient Insects would probably have most resembled these …
- … The contrary supposition that the old Insects possessed a “complete metamorphosis,” and …
- … and bend it sideways a little bit (and an insect wanting to insert its proboscis into the …
- … out of its sheath without a visit from an insect or whether a second visit is necessary …
From Hermann Crüger 8 August 1863
Summary
Thanks for presentation copy of Linum paper [Collected papers 2: 93–105].
Ficus experiments confirm CD’s supposition that insects visit Melastoma for nectar, but HC thinks pollen-seekers fertilise the flowers.
Maranta fertilisation.
| Author: | Hermann Crüger |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Aug 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 277, 277/1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4265 |
Matches: 16 hits
- … Ficus experiments confirm CD’s supposition that insects visit Melastoma for nectar, but HC …
- … 5.8] crossed pencil Melastomas also *visited by [ interl ] nectar-seeking insects,—& swarm …
- … with insects. | Dichogamy [ brown crayon ] | …
- … Narantea (one of Marcgravaciæ) Bracts so placed to draw insects to flowers. …
- … Insects very busy about larger orchids, but not right for …
- … 6. Crüger published his observations on the insect pollination of Catasetum tridentatum (a …
- … more advanced but your supposition that insects visit them for nectar also is apparently …
- … by which orchids are fertilised by insects. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition, revised. …
- … and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. …
- … have noticed lately, are abundantly visited by insects, so much so that in the forest you …
- … is abundantly provided with a substance attracting insects. This is Narantea, a remarkable …
- … Bracteae are empty up to that moment. Insects are very fond of this syrup & as the opening …
- … Gongoras, Coryanthes, & in all of them insects are certainly very busy, but in some the …
- … But then it must be admitted that the insect world of cultivated grounds like this garden …
- … there are whole tribes of nocturnal insects, which escape our observation, particularly …
- … sort of pulp, which is very attractive to insects. It is well known that pollen tubes are …
From H. N. Ridley 15 April 1877
Summary
Sends specimens of Saxifraga tridactylites with insects caught by it. Asks if colour of leaves attracts insects.
| Author: | Henry Nicholas Ridley |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 15 Apr 1877 |
| Classmark: | DAR 86: B10–11 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10930 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … Sends specimens of Saxifraga tridactylites with insects caught by it. …
- … Asks if colour of leaves attracts insects. …
- … are caught. I hope they will arrive with the insects adhering to the leaves. It seems to …
- … the mere adhesion of accidentally caught insects to the power of holding and consuming …
- … colour of the leaves serve to attract insects? I observe that the red leaves are generally …
- … I have observed no sign of inflection of the hairs when insects or meat are placed on …
- … it I have never seen any insects except this species of Gnat, caught by this plant. It …
From G. R. Waterhouse [c. June 1845]
Summary
Discusses his paper on CD’s Galapagos beetles ["Coleopterous insects … in the Galapagos Islands", Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 16 (1845): 19–41] which he will forward when printed. Has drawn up descriptions of several other insects from CD’s collections.
| Author: | George Robert Waterhouse |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [c. June 1845] |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 18 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-874 |
Matches: 8 hits
- … on CD’s Galapagos beetles ["Coleopterous insects … in the Galapagos Islands", Ann. & Mag. …
- … when printed. Has drawn up descriptions of several other insects from CD’s collections. …
- … p. 392, CD noted that the two species of water-beetle and one other insect ( Apate ) were …
- … the only Galápagos insect species previously known. All the others were new. See preceding …
- … be much pleased— I have in working out these insects taken the opportunity to describe …
- … several other of the more interesting insects contained in your collection—from …
- … I had not my notes about the Galapagos Insects & the moment I got home I found I had made …
- … Tropisternus lateralis of [ authors ] an insect which is found in the United States, in …
From Robert Thomson 24 July 1864
Summary
Observations on insects visiting Melastomataceae.
| Author: | Robert Thomson |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 24 July 1864 |
| Classmark: | DAR 178: 117 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4574 |
Matches: 8 hits
- … Observations on insects visiting Melastomataceae. …
- … for information on the habits of insects visiting flowers of the family Melastomataceae ( …
- … that you were desirous of ascertaining if any Insects visit the flower of Melastomaths, I …
- … of which, together with several of the insects, I enclose to you. It may here be desirable …
- … most humble servant | Robert Thomson The insects are attached to the under surface of the …
- … have without a single exception found the Insects occupied in almost every flower around …
- … the calyx, whence the object in which the Insect is in search of, is obviously obtained. …
- … are appended to the organs with which the Insects are in contact. Pollen masses are also …
Murray, Andrew. 1857. On insect-vision and blind insects. Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal n.s. 6: 120–38.
Harris, T. W. (1795–1856)
Matches: 6 hits
- … scientific journals. Author of section 8, "Insects", of the Catalogue of the animals and …
- … 1833), and of the Report on the insects of Massachusetts injurious to vegetation (1841). …
- … York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1999–2002. 12,13,16,17 Hitchcock, Edward Insects …
- … animals insects plants Harvard College Harvard Massachusetts articles on …
- … horticulture scientific journals section 8, "Insects" Catalogue of the animals and plants …
- … zoology of Massachusetts Report on the insects of Massachusetts injurious to vegetation …
To Nature 21 November [1877]
Summary
Sends letter from Fritz Müller [11191] containing observations on plants and insects of South Brazil, with prefatory comments.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Nature |
| Date: | 21 Nov [1877] |
| Classmark: | Nature, 29 November 1877, p. 78 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11245 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Fritz Müller on Flowers and Insects …
- … containing observations on plants and insects of South Brazil, with prefatory comments. …
- … observations on certain plants and insects of South Brazil, which are so new and curious …
- … glands being thus gnawed or devoured by insects, and here we have an example. With respect …
To W. D. Fox 12 [June 1828]
Summary
Account of insects he has collected, with figures drawn by sister.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 12 [June 1828] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-42 |
Matches: 10 hits
- … Account of insects he has collected, with figures drawn by sister. …
- … any thing I can compare it to. — I.I. fig: be sure to give me the name of this insect …
- … entomology; or, a synopsis of indigenous insects: containing their generic and specific …
- … not having any body to talk to about insects:—my only reason for writing, is to remove a …
- … in Entomology. I have however captured a few insects, about which I am much interested: My …
- … them: I. fig: is I am nearly sure, the same insect as H
〈 oa〉 r, of Queens took in a Willow … - … of a rail, was very active, striking looking insect, took 3 specimens I think this is an …
- … prize II. fig: is an extremely common insect; of the family of scarabidæ. Do you know it’ …
- … long letter about yourself & all other insects: My plans remain the same as formerly. I am …
- … crumbs of information about yourself & the insects. Believe me my dear Fox | Yours most …
To John Lubbock 3 September [1881?]
Summary
Discusses insect attraction to artificial flowers. CD’s experiments of 40 years ago failed, but Nägeli reported success by scenting them.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
| Date: | 3 Sept [1881?] |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 49644: 94–5) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9622 |
Matches: 9 hits
- … Discusses insect attraction to artificial flowers. CD’s experiments of 40 years ago …
- … coloured streaks and veins on petals in guiding insects to the nectary in Cross and self …
- … Fertilisation I have given a few facts about insects finding flowers. — About 40 years ago …
- … in middle with no success. It w d seem that insects must have very acute vision, thus to …
- … Can the artificial colours differ to an insect’s eye from the colours of real flowers? — I …
- … Müller discussed colours and the type of insects they attracted. Müller had sent CD a copy …
- … 420–3, CD considered the question of how insects recognised flowers; he also discussed the …
- … function of colour and odour working together to attract insects to flowers, …
- … noting that insects were never deceived by unscented artificial flowers ( ibid. , pp. 372– …
From John Obadiah Westwood 23 November 1856
Summary
The Kentucky cave insects (Adelops) are evidently identical to European species of the same genus, some of which are cave insects, others found in damp, dark places.
| Author: | John Obadiah Westwood |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Nov 1856 |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.3: 297 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1998 |
Matches: 10 hits
- … The Kentucky cave insects ( Adelops ) are evidently identical to European species of …
- … the same genus, some of which are cave insects, others found in damp, dark places. …
- … places] double scored pencil Top of first page : ‘Cave Insects’ pencil ; ‘19’ brown crayon …
- … descriptions given by Tellkampf of the insects found by him in the Kentucky Cave are not …
- … the same Genus ten of which have been already described as cave insects & several others …
- … not cave insects but found in damp dark places— We have one if not two of this Genus in …
- … considerable N o . of new additional cave insects have since been published in the Stettin …
- … have only been three or 4 American Cave insects descri d it follows that, as at present …
- … old coprophagous or at least fossorial insects blunt the points of the spines or teeth of …
- … in CD’s hand and comprises a list of cave insects taken from a paper by Ferdinand Joseph …
To F. W. Hope [21 June 1837]
Summary
Discusses insect specimens he left with FWH. Asks if he may state on FWH’s authority that a third or a half of the specimens from Sydney and Hobart Town are undescribed – a striking fact, showing imperfect knowledge of the insects in the close neighbourhood of the two Australian capitals.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Frederick William Hope |
| Date: | [21 June 1837] |
| Classmark: | Oxford University Museum of Natural History (Hope Entomological collections) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-362 |
Matches: 8 hits
- … Discusses insect specimens he left with FWH. Asks if he may state on FWH’s authority that …
- … fact, showing imperfect knowledge of the insects in the close neighbourhood of the two …
- … that he was sent, in addition to Caribidae, insect specimens from ‘Australia | Van Diemen’ …
- … George’s Sound’, while George Robert Waterhouse was given ‘minute insects from d[itt]o’. …
- … your authority that a third or a half of the insects which you already have of mine from …
- … for it shows how imperfectly known the insects are, even in the close neighbour-hood of …
- … spoken to Waterhouse about the Australian insects; you can have them when you like. — The …
- … want of them to transplant some more insects. — Perhaps you had better return the Carabi, …
Document type
| letter | (1813) |
| bibliography | (121) |
| people | (54) |
Author
| Darwin, C. R. | (928) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (87) |
| Gray, Asa | (41) |
| Müller, Fritz | (33) |
| Müller, Hermann | (30) |
Addressee
| Darwin, C. R. | (864) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (174) |
| Gray, Asa | (53) |
| Fox, W. D. | (33) |
| Lyell, Charles | (32) |
Correspondent
| Darwin, C. R. | (1791) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (261) |
| Gray, Asa | (94) |
| Müller, Fritz | (63) |
| Bates, H. W. | (49) |
Date
| 1823 | (1) |
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| 1826 | (1) |
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| 1829 | (12) |
| 1830 | (6) |
| 1831 | (4) |
| 1832 | (5) |
| 1833 | (8) |
| 1834 | (3) |
| 1835 | (1) |
| 1836 | (3) |
| 1837 | (2) |
| 1838 | (1) |
| 1839 | (2) |
| 1841 | (2) |
| 1842 | (1) |
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| 1880 | (26) |
| 1881 | (53) |
| 1882 | (6) |
Search:
insects in keywords
Sexual selection in Commentary
Sexual selection in Commentary
4 Items
Sexual selection
Summary
Although natural selection could explain the differences between species, Darwin realised that (other than in the reproductive organs themselves) it could not explain the often marked differences between the males and females of the same species. So what…
Darwin in letters, 1867: A civilised dispute
Summary
Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The variation of animals and plants under domestication (Variation). The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in…
Matches: 7 hits
- … by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects ( Orchids ). While Darwin …
- … ), Darwin defended his position about colour in adult insects but turned the discussion to the role …
- … his argument about the protective function of colour in both insects and birds. Darwin conceded that …
- … community in order to gather more information on insects. Moreover, he was still able to engage in …
- … charming observations on the fertilisation of Orchids by insects, as far as the Westfalian Flora …
- … my attention in general to the fertilisation of flowers by insects.’ By the summer, Hermann was …
- … by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects ( Orchids ). In October, …
Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex
Summary
The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the…
Matches: 4 hits
- … the Isle of Wight on the formation of luminous organs in insects and fish, when he was supposed to …
- … to mind any facts bearing on this subject with Birds, insects or any animals’. Weir showed great …
- … the differing results obtained from breeding and collecting insects in the wild, and Darwin was soon …
- … selective powers of females. ‘I do not believe that with Insects there is anything deserving the …
John Lubbock
Summary
John Lubbock was eight years old when the Darwins moved into the neighbouring property of Down House, Down, Kent; the total of one hundred and seventy surviving letters he went on to exchange with Darwin is a large number considering that the two men lived…
Matches: 1 hits
- … published work on the secondary sexual characteristics of insects, on language, and on religious …
