To Mary Treat 22 June 1874
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
June 22nd 74
My dear Madam
I am very much obliged for your extremely interesting letter, & I am glad to hear that you are studying Dionæa in so earnest a manner1 My observations on cultivated plants are now complete, and I shall publish them in six or nine months; though they will be of little value compared with those made on the plant in its own country. As you kindly offer me information, I should very much like to hear about one point. Dr Canby says that the same leaf will catch 2 or 3 insects successively. Now I find with cultivated plants that a leaf which has once caught a good sized insect, though it will open & remain so for a considerable time, has so little power of movement that it most rarely is able to catch a second insect or to close over any object. I should very much like to be able to say, what the truth is on this head.2
I remain dear Madam with my best thanks | Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Summary
Will soon publish on insectivorous plants; asks for a particular observation on Dionaea.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9505
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Mary Lua Adelia (Mary) Davis/Mary Lua Adelia (Mary) Treat
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Amy Nagashima (private collection)
- Physical description
- LS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9505,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9505.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22