To J. P. M. Weale 30 July 1870
Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.
July 30 1870
My dear Sir
I received 3 days ago your interesting letter of May 25th, the M.S. with the excellent drawings, & the specimens.1 I have despatched all the latter to the Linn. Soc.; but the session is over, & there will be no meeting till Nov.2
The points which have struck me most in your papers are, firstly, the parallelism of Disa & Ophrys;3 secondly, the structure & the three nectaries of Disperis;4 & thirdly, the contraction of the caudicles in certain cases.5 I have also been glad to read what you say about mares & asses; but I believe scarcely any thing is more new than your observation about the acrid secretion from the Soldier-termes.6
Whether the Linn. Soc. will publish your papers I cannot of course say; but I heard not long ago that they were overwhelmed with matter, & I doubt about their funds for engraving.7
If you will permit me, I wd suggest that your papers wd be improved by much condensation, & by omitting all observations which do not lead to definite results.8 There are not many persons who are interested about the fertilization of flowers.
I forgot, in specifying what seems to me most curious in yr notes, the case of the bee’s nest.9
I am very sorry to hear so bad an account of your colony, the success of which has always interested me.10
With my best wishes for your success in science & in all other way believe me | my dear Sir yours very faithfully | 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–.
Dressler, Robert L. 1993. Phylogeny and classification of the orchid family. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Summary
Has forwarded JPMW’s papers to the Linnean Society [four articles by J. P. M. Weale, J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 13 (1870–2): 42–58].
Comments on JPMW’s findings concerning flowers and their fertilisation.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7290
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- James Philip Mansel Weale
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.380)
- Physical description
- LS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7290,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7290.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 18