To Daniel Oliver 17 February [1864]1
Down Bromley | Kent
Feb 17
Dear Oliver
Many thanks for the Epacrids which I have kept as they will interest me when able to look thro’ the microscope.2
Dr Cruger has sent me the enclosed paper with power to do what I think fit with it.3 He wd evidently prefer it to appear in the Nat. Hist. Review.4
Please read it & let me have your decision pretty soon. Some Germanisms must be corrected.— whether wood cuts are necessary I have not been able to pay attention enough to decide. If you refuse please send it to Linn. Soc. as communicated by me.5 The paper has interested me extremely & I shall have no peace till I have a good boast. The sexes are separate in Catasetum which is a wonderful relief to me as I have had two or three letters saying that the male C. Tridentatum seeds.6 It is pretty clear to me that 2 or 3 forms are confounded under this name Observe how curiously nearly perfect the pollen of the female is according to Cruger7 Certainly more perfect than the pollen from the Guyana specimens described by me.8
I was right in the manner in which the pollen adheres to the hairy back of the humble bee & hence the force of the ejection of the Pollinia.9 I am still more pleased that I was right about insects gnawing the fleshy labellum. This is important as it explains all the astounding projections on the labellum of Oncidium phalænopsis &c.10
Excuse all my boasting. It is the best medicine for my stomach. Tell me whether you mean to take up Orchids as Hooker said you were thinking of doing.
Do you know Coryanthes with its wonderful bucket of water? See what Cruger says about it.11 It beats every thing in Orchids.
Dear Oliver | yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Collected papers: The collected papers of Charles Darwin. Edited by Paul H. Barrett. 2 vols. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 1977.
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.
‘Fertilization of orchids’: Notes on the fertilization of orchids. By Charles Darwin. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 4th ser. 4 (1869): 141–59. [Collected papers 2: 138–56.]
Orchids 2d ed.: The various contrivances by which orchids are fertilised by insects. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition, revised. London: John Murray. 1877.
Orchids: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862.
Origin 4th ed.: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 4th edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1866.
‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria’: On the sexual relations of the three forms of Lythrum salicaria. By Charles Darwin. [Read 16 June 1864.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 8 (1865): 169–96. [Collected papers 2: 106–31.]
‘Three sexual forms of Catasetum tridentatum’: On the three remarkable sexual forms of Catasetum tridentatum, an orchid in the possession of the Linnean Society. By Charles Darwin. [Read 3 April 1862.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany) 6 (1862): 151–7. [Collected papers 2: 63–70.]
Summary
Sends Hermann Crüger’s paper ["A few notes on the fecundation of orchids and their morphology", J. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 8 (1865): 127–35] for publication.
"Boasts" of confirmation that sexes are separate in Catasetum.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4410
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Daniel Oliver
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 261.10: 58 (EH 88206041)
- Physical description
- LS(A) 5pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4410,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4410.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12