From W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 6 June 1876
Royal Gardens Kew | Kew,
June 6. 76
Dear Mr Darwin
Crüger’s Coryanthes was C. macrantha of which the best figure is I think that in Paxton’s magazine vol 5 p. 31.1 I believe they have this at the Linnean Society, but if not I do not doubt that Dr Hooker2 would allow me to send it you. The figure is not so distinct in its details as it might be but with a little study a good drawing may be made from it.
The best illustrations of any species are those of Coryanthes Feildingii in the Journal of the Horticultural Society vol. iii (1848) pp. 16. 17.
With the help of these Paxton’s figure will be found more intelligible.
There is also a figure of C. speciosa in Lindley’s Vegetable Kingdom p. 183 d
The meeting at the Linnean Society the other night was taken up with a tiresome and interminable paper on phyllotaxis and your son’s most interesting communication was hardly done justice to.3 A discussion on some of his points would have been very instructive, but for this there was no time
Believe me | Yours very truly | W. T. Thiselton Dyer
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Crüger, Hermann. 1864. A few notes on the fecundation of orchids and their morphology. [Read 3 March 1864.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 8 (1865): 127–35.
Lindley, John. 1853. The vegetable kingdom; or, the structure, classification, and uses of plants, illustrated upon the natural system. 3d edition with corrections and additional genera. London: Bradbury & Evans.
Orchids 2d ed.: The various contrivances by which orchids are fertilised by insects. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition, revised. London: John Murray. 1877.
Summary
References to figures of Coryanthes.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10534
- From
- William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 178: 97
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10534,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10534.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24