To A. G. More 7 June [1862]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
June 7th
My dear Sir
If you are well & have leisure, will you kindly give me one bit of information. Does Ophrys arachnites occur in the Isle of Wight? or do the intermediate forms, which are said to connect abroad this species & the Bee O. ever there occur?2
Some facts have led me to suspect that it might just be possible; though improbable in the highest degree, that the Bee might be the self-fertilising form of O. arachnites which requires insects’ aid. Something as we have self-fertilising flowers of the Violet & others requiring insects.3 I know the case is widely different as the Bee is borne on separate plant & is incomparably commoner. This would remove the great anomaly of the Bee being a perpetual self-fertiliser.4 Certain Malpighiaceæ for years produce only one of the two forms. What has set my head going on this, is receiving to-day a Bee having one alone of the best marked characters of O. arachnites.—5
Pray forgive me troubling you and believe me, | Yours sincerely | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Orchids: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862.
Summary
Suspects that bee orchid is self-fertilising form of Ophrys arachnites, which requires insect aid.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3591
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Alexander Goodman More
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Royal Irish Academy (A. G. More papers RIA MS 4 B 46)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3591,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3591.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10