To Hermann Müller1 14 March 1870
Down, Beckenham, Kent
March 14. 1870.
My dear Sir
I think you have set yourself a new, very interesting and difficult line of research.2 As far as I know, no one has carefully observed the structure of insects in relation to flowers, although so many have now attended to the converse relation. As I imagine few or no insects are adapted to suck the nectar or gather the pollen of any single family of plants, such striking adaptations can hardly, I presume, be expected in insects as in flowers.—3 … Die Wichtigkeit der keinen Pollen verzehrenden Schmetterlinge für die Blumen ist mir niemals eingefallen, und Ihre Gesichtspunkte erklären die ungeheuere Entwickelung der nächtlichen Arten.4 Es scheint mir sehr seltsam, dass es keine nächtlichen blumensaugenden Zweiflügler und Hautflügler geben soll.5 Hat irgend wer den Magininhalt der Fledermäuse untersucht? Nach den Hummeln und Honigbienen, die oft verschiedene Arten besuchen, und nach dem Beispiele der Wespen und der Epipactis latifolia kann ich nicht umhin, zu denken, dass der Geschmack des Nektars die Besuche der Schmetterlinge sogar noch mehr bestimmen muss, als der Bau der Blume.6 Würde es sehr schwierig sein, das Verhältniss der in Deutschland vorkommenden Blumen mit so langen Nektarien oder so verlängerter Röhre, dass sie nur durch Schmetterlinge ausgebeutet werden können, festzustellen? Die in meinem Orchideenbuche versuchte Erklärung der Länge des Nektarium von Angraecum, kann, wie ich vermuthe, auf andere Fälle ausgedehnt werden.7 Sie müssten, denke ich, von Pictet’s oder anderen Werken die frühesten geologischen Formationen festellen, in welchen die verschiedenen Ordnungen der Insekten aufgefunden worden sind.8 Es ist, wie ich glaube, viel Wahres in dem, was ich in einer der späteren Ausgaben des “Ursprungs der Arten” folgerte, dass, bevor Insekten erschienen, die Pflanzen nicht mit ornamentalen Blüthen geschmückt gewesen sind.9 Ich zweifle einigermassen daran, dass irgend eine Beziehung zwischen den glänzenden Farben der Schmetterlinge, ihren Blumenbesuchen und der geschlechtlichen Zuchtwahl bestehe, denn die Geschlechter variiren in der Farbe so häufig im ganzen Thierreich. …
Yours very 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–.
Krause, Ernst. 1884. Hermann Müller von Lippstadt: ein Gedenkblatt. Lippstadt: P. Rempel’s Buchhandlung (E. Hegener).
Müller, Hermann. 1869. Die Anwendung der Darwin’schen Lehre auf Blumen und blumen-besuchende Insekten. [Read 18 May 1869.] Verhandlungen des naturhistorischen Vereines der preussischen Rheinlande und Westphalens (Botanik, Correspondenzblatt) 26: 43–66.
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.
Pictet de la Rive, François Jules. 1853–7. Traité de paléontologie, ou histoire naturelle des animaux fossiles considérés dans leurs rapports zoologiques et géologiques. 2d edition. 4 vols. Paris: J.-B. Baillière.
Translation
To Hermann Müller1 14 March 1870
Down, Beckenham, Kent
March 14. 1870.
My dear Sir
I think you have set yourself a new, very interesting and difficult line of research.2 As far as I know, no one has carefully observed the structure of insects in relation to flowers, although so many have now attended to the converse relation. As I imagine few or no insects are adapted to suck the nectar or gather the pollen of any single family of plants, such striking adaptations can hardly, I presume, be expected in insects as in flowers.—3 … The importance of butterflies, who do not consume pollen, for flowers never occurred to me, and your considerations explain the enormous development of nocturnal species.4 It seems very odd to me, that there should be no nocturnal nectar-drinking Diptera or Hymenoptera.5 Has anyone investigated the stomach contents of bats? Based on humble bees and honeybees, who often visit various species, and following the example of wasps and Epipactis latifolia, I cannot help but think that the taste of nectar must influence the visits of butterflies much more than the structure of the flower.6 Would it be very difficult to determine the relationship of flowers occurring in Germany with such long nectaries or such long corolla tubes, that could only be exploited by butterflies? The explanation that I suggested in my orchid book for the length of the nectary in Angraecum, can, I suspect, be extended to other cases.7 You must, I think, using Pictet’s or other works, determine the earliest geological formations, in which the various orders of insects have been traced.8 There is much truth, I believe, in what I concluded in a later edition of “Origin of Species”, that before insects appeared, plants were not adorned with ornamental flowers.9 I fairly doubt, that any connection exists between the brilliant colours of butterflies, their floral visits, and sexual selection, since the sexes vary in colour so frequently throughout the whole animal kingdom. …
Yours very 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–.
Krause, Ernst. 1884. Hermann Müller von Lippstadt: ein Gedenkblatt. Lippstadt: P. Rempel’s Buchhandlung (E. Hegener).
Müller, Hermann. 1869. Die Anwendung der Darwin’schen Lehre auf Blumen und blumen-besuchende Insekten. [Read 18 May 1869.] Verhandlungen des naturhistorischen Vereines der preussischen Rheinlande und Westphalens (Botanik, Correspondenzblatt) 26: 43–66.
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.
Pictet de la Rive, François Jules. 1853–7. Traité de paléontologie, ou histoire naturelle des animaux fossiles considérés dans leurs rapports zoologiques et géologiques. 2d edition. 4 vols. Paris: J.-B. Baillière.
Summary
Interested that HM is studying structure of insects in relation to flowers.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7131
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Heinrich Ludwig Hermann (Hermann) Müller
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 146: 432; Krause 1884, pp. 19–20
- Physical description
- C 1p inc
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7131,” accessed on 1 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7131.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 18