From Mary Treat 22 October 1874
Vineland, New Jersey,
Oct. 22, 1874.
Dear Mr. Darwin,
My observations on Dionaea are now completed and ready for publication. I am afraid I have delayed too long in giving you the desired information with regard to the leaf catching more than one insect.1
Several leaves caught successively, three insects each, but most of them were not able to digest the third fly; but died in the attempt.
Five leaves digested, each three flies, and closed over the fourth, but died soon after the fourth capture.
Many leaves did not digest even one large insect.
I will try to send you my observations when published.
Respectfully yours | Mary Treat.
I read Dr Hooker’s admirable address on “Carnivorous Plants”, in Nature with much interest.2
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Summary
Observation on the limitations on the power of digestion in Dionaea.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9692
- From
- Mary Lua Adelia (Mary) Davis/Mary Lua Adelia (Mary) Treat
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Vineland, N.J.
- Source of text
- DAR 58.1: 108
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9692,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9692.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22