To Asa Gray 8 January 1873
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
Jan 8. 73
My dear Gray,
You sent me a letter dated Wilmington July 9. ’67 about Dionæa. It has no signature but you refer to it as written by Mr. Canlay or Canbay or Cawley.1 Will you be so kind as to write the name for me distinctly, for some people are so foolish as to say that your handwriting, like mine, is not very legible. The letter has interested me much in some respects & the gentleman seems very kind & willing to oblige. Does he reside at Wilmington now? And if so would you ask him to observe one point for me—namely whether the Dionæa catches large or small insects. It wd. be advisable to gather a dozen or score of leaves which are quite closely shut, bring them home, & open them. As “large” & “small” are such vague terms it wd. be very advisable, if not causing too much trouble, to measure the breadth of the broadest part & length (from end of head to end of abdomen) of an average sized captured insect; & then state how many exceeded or were less than this mean. But it shd. be particularly stated whether any of the captured insects were quite minute. Does your friend still abide by his conclusion that a leaf after catching an insect never acts again? this agrees with my small experience with Cultivated plants.
Owing to your kindness I have received a letter from Mrs. Treat of Vineland, saying that she wd. observe D. filiformis next Summer.2 You will see by this letter that I am obeying your orders & working on Drosera & Co.3
Yours most sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Summary
Has received, through AG, a letter on Dionaea [from W. M. Canby] which has greatly interested him. CD asks AG to question his correspondent on whether it catches large or small insects.
Mary Treat will observe Drosera filiformis.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8728
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Asa Gray
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (102)
- Physical description
- LS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8728,” accessed on 24 May 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8728.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21