My dear Sir

I received about a fortnight ago your second letter on climbing plants, dated Aug. 31^st.¹ It has greatly interested me, & it corrects & fills up a great hiatus in my paper.² As I thought you could not object, I am having your letters copied & will send the paper to the Linnæan Soc.³ I have slightly modified the arrangement of some parts & altered only a few words, as you write as good English as an Englishman. I do not quite understand your account of the arrangement of the leaves of Strychnos, & I think you use the word Bracteæ differently to what English Authors do; therefore I will get D^r Hooker to look over your paper.⁴

I cannot of course say whether the Linnæan Soc. will publish your paper, but I am sure it ought to do so. As the Soc. is rather poor I fear that it will give only a few wood cuts from your truly admirable sketches.⁵ In my last letter I suggested your reading the Chap. on Catasetum in my Orchid book but I accidentally forgot to give the reason, viz that D^r Crüger of Trinidad fully confirms all that I say, & has sent me Humble bees with the pollinia adhering to their hairy bodies.⁶ Hence the force of the ejection. He further states that, as I anticipated the bees come to gnaw the fleshy labellum.⁷ I have now no doubt that all the extraordinary protuberances on the labella of exotic orchids serve to attract insects like the flesh round the stone of the cherry. But it is hardly worth while my troubling you with these details. If your paper is printed I will send you copies.

Believe me my dear Sir | yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

My health keeps so weak, that I can do nothing.