Dear old Darwin

Your Lupin is certainly L. pilosus admirably figured in Sibthorp’s Fl. Græca—² (L. hirsutus is a little thing—quite different)—³ It is a Mediterranean species, very many thanks for the specimen.

I am groaning over my Lecture—⁴ I have done Madeira, & am at Canaries, I am utterly puzzled by the absence of alpine or even of subalpine plants in Madeira— it reminds me of what I have heard of Sardinia—I think—& indeed of all European mts south of Pyrenees⁵ & alps more or less; & of Atlas again.⁶ Then again I am more impressed & staggered than ever with the number of rare local things common to Madeira & Canaries, which are not littoral plants, & which I cannot account for without land extension⁷

Take Dracæna Draco., on mts. of Madeira, of Canaries & of Cape de Verds! or Bencomia, a dioeceous tree—of which one ♂ plant has been found at top of rocks in Madeira, & one female by a peasant & which is found only else in Canaries & then is excessively rare   Myrica Faya, found only in West Portugal, Madeira Azores & Canaries!—& so on. An Atlantis is the only possible guess that holds water⁸

Most of the alpine Cameroons plants are natives of Cape de Verd Mts, Canary Mts, & of Madeira & Azores.⁹

I have been reading Ed^d. Forbes again & with admiration, despite its faults:— how near he was to being a very great man; dear old fellow as he was— I had not read it for years, & it reminded me of how we had worked together & made me melancholy. I shall allude to it, as a Brit. Ass. affair—¹⁰ Was his the first scientific proposition of the Atlantis?¹¹

How disappointing are the Introductory Remarks to Wollaston’s Catalogue of Mad & Canarian Coleoptera.¹² Has he any where indicated the apterous proportion, or the strength of European elements in the Entomology of these groups.¹³ The Madeiran Catalogue remarks are the best of the two.¹⁴ If I remember aright, all the Kerguelens land insects were apterous, including the moth!¹⁵

Is it not odd that there is a direct relation between the numerical rarity & endemic character of Madeiran plants— thus out of 193 strictly indigenous species & varieties identical with European

134 are common (61. ccc) (very common)

59 are scarce (11 rrr) (very rare)¹⁶

Of 16 Madeiran plants that are local varieties of European

1 is a common plant

15 are scarce (4 rrr.)

Of 65 non European plants chiefly Madeiran, but a few common also to the Canaries

21 are common (5 of them ccc)

44 are rare (17 rrr.!)

the more endemic (or the ultra endemic as Wollaston calls them) the more rare.¹⁷

It looks as if later climatic conditions had favored the prevalence of the European elements at the expense of the Endemic.

Of the extra European types the most curious are Clethra & Persea species of very large American genera found no where in the Old World. Apollonias, a genus of Laurels, having only 2 species, this Madeiran & a Nilgherrie Mt one. The aforesaid Dracæna Draco & several tropical African genera, of trees as Pittosporum, Sideroxylon, Myrsine &c.¹⁸ It is also curious that the majority of the Extra European genera are arbroeous!¹⁹

I am now doing Canaries, the Vegetation is more peculiar than I thought—still no alpine or even cold temperate European plants except a few of the Cameroons ones.

It is curious that Wollaston finds the Insects proportionately fewer than in Madeira,²⁰ for I think the Flora is proportionately richer—a good deal,

How does your health hold?

Ever yrs affec | Jos D Hooker

My wife takes the children to S^t. Alban’s for 6 weeks—²¹