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Darwin Correspondence Project

To A. G. Butler   23 August 1875

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Aug 23. 75

My dear Sir

I have received the enclosed moth from Queensland Australia under the name of Ophideres fullonica. The sender gives me a curious account of having caught large numbers with the proboscides deeply embedded in oranges.1 This interests me as bearing on some of my orchis work.2

Now will you have the kindness to tell me to what family the moth belongs, and more especially whether there is any English genus closely allied & with fairly large species. One of my sons has a moderate collection & I could get thus a proboscis for comparison, as that of Ophideres seems to me in my ignorance an extraordinary structure.3

Pray grant me this favour & believe me yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

P.S The moth from which the proboscis has been removed need not of course be returned

Footnotes

1
The specimen of Ophideres fullonica (now Eudocima phalonia, the Pacific fruit-piercing moth) was sent by Anthelme Thozet; the account sent to CD has not been found but was an article from a Queensland newspaper (F. Darwin 1875b, p. 384). According to an account in the Queensland Times (6 April 1869, p. 3), Thozet’s discovery was first reported in the Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Queensland Advertiser in April 1869; no copy of the original report has been found. Discussion of the damage done by the moths was revived in the Queensland newspapers in May 1875 (Rockhampton Bulletin, 4 May 1875, p. 3).
2
CD added a reference to Ophideres fullonica in Orchids 2d ed., p. 40, as further evidence that moths and butterflies were capable of piercing the nectaries of orchids.
3
The moth collection probably belonged to Francis Darwin, who published an article on the structure of the proboscis of Ophideres fullonica in October 1875; he described it as like a toothed, three-sided bayonet or saw (F. Darwin 1875b).

Bibliography

Orchids 2d ed.: The various contrivances by which orchids are fertilised by insects. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition, revised. London: John Murray. 1877.

Summary

Sends a moth from Queensland, Australia. The sender says a large number have been caught with proboscises embedded in oranges. CD interested as having a bearing on his Orchis work. Can AGB name the family and any closely allied English genus? The proboscis seems an extraordinary structure [see F. Darwin, "On the structure of the proboscis of Ophideres fullonica", Q. J. Microsc. Sci. n.s. 15 (1875): 384–9].

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-10133
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Arthur Gardiner Butler
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Royal Entomological Society (28/3)
Physical description
LS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10133,” accessed on 27 May 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10133.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23

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