To Fritz Müller 12 April 1881
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
April 12th. 1881
My dear Sir
I have delayed answering your last letter of Feb. 25th, as I was just sending to the printers the M.S. of a very little book on the habits of earth-worms, of which I will of course send you a copy when published.—1 I have been very much interested by your new facts on paraheliotropism, as I think that they justify my giving a name to this kind of movement, about which I long doubted. I have this morning drawn up an account of your observations, which I will send in a few days to ‘Nature’.2 I have thought that you would not object to my giving precedence to paraheliotropism, which has been so little noticed.— I will send you a copy of ‘Nature’ when published.—3
I am glad that I was not in too great a hurry in publishing about Lagestrœmia I have procured some plants of Melastomaceæ, but I fear that they will not flower for two years & I may be in my grave before I can repeat my trials. As far as I can imperfectly judge from my observations, the difference in colour of the anthers in this family depends on one set of anthers being partially aborted. I wrote to Kew to get plants with differently coloured anthers, but I learnt very little as describers of dried plants do not attend to such points. I have, however, sowed seeds of 2 kinds, suggested to me as probable.—4 I have, therefore, been extremely glad to receive the seeds of Heteranthera reniformis. As far as I can make out it is an aquatic plant; & whether I shall succeed in getting it to flower is doubtful.5 Will you be so kind as to send me a postcard, telling me in what kind of station it grows.—
In the course of next autumn or winter, I think that I shall put together my notes (if they seem worth publishing) on the use or meaning of “bloom”, or the waxy secretion which makes some leaves glaucous.—6 I think that I told you that my experiments had led me to suspect that the movement of the leaves of Mimosa, Desmodium & Cassia, when shaken & syringed, was to shoot off the drops of water.7 If you are caught in heavy rain, I shd. be very much obliged, if you would keep this notion in your mind, & look to the position of such leaves.—
You have such wonderful powers of observation that your opinion wd. be more valued by me than that of any other man.— I have among my notes one letter from you on the subject, but I forget its purport. I hope, also, that you may be led to follow up your very ingenious & novel view on the two-coloured anthers or pollen, & observe which kind is most gathered by bees.8
Believe me | Yours ever sincerely | Charles Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Darwin, Francis. 1886. On the relation between the ‘bloom’ on leaves and the distribution of the stomata. [Read 4 February 1886.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 22 (1885–6): 99–116.
Earthworms: The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with observations on their habits. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1881.
Forms of flowers: The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1877.
Freeman, Richard Broke. 1977. The works of Charles Darwin: an annotated bibliographical handlist. 2d edition. Folkestone, Kent: William Dawson & Sons. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, Shoe String Press.
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Möller, Alfred, ed. 1915–21. Fritz Müller. Werke, Briefe und Leben. 3 vols in 5. Jena: Gustav Fischer.
Movement in plants: The power of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. 1880.
Summary
Earthworm book with printer.
Has sent FM’s observations on paraheliotropism to Nature ["Movement of leaves", Collected papers 2: 228–9].
Plants with differently coloured anthers.
Intends gathering together his notes on "bloom".
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13113
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 51)
- Physical description
- ALS 6pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13113,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13113.xml