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Darwin Correspondence Project

To D. F. Nevill   11 September [1874]

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Sept. 11th

Dear Lady Dorothy Nevill

I send this afternoon the Drosera to the Ry. packed up as carefully as we can, & I sincerely hope it may reach you safely.— It has interested me in a high degree & differs in one important respect from any other species which I have seen.1 I hope that you will not consider me unreasonable when I tell you that I cut off for microscopical examination, one leaf in bud, one young leaf, & a portion of two old leaves. But I cut them from the middle so that they will hardly be missed.

I beg leave to remain | Your Ladyships | Most truly obliged | Charles Darwin

U. Montana just arrived in excellent state.2 | C.D.

Footnotes

CD evidently returned the specimen of Drosera dichotoma that he had received from Nevill (see letter to D. F. Nevill, 7 September 1874). Drosera dichotoma is a synonym of D. binata, the forked-leaf sundew. In Insectivorous plants, p. 283, CD noted in D. binata the ‘remarkable peculiarity’ of tentacles on the backs of the leaves.
CD had requested a specimen of Utricularia montana, an epiphytic bladderwort, in his letter to Nevill of 7 September 1874. Utricularia montana is a synonym of U. alpina.

Bibliography

Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.

Summary

Returns a Drosera, from which he cut a piece for microscopic examination.

Utricularia montana just arrived.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-9632
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Dorothy Fanny Walpole/Dorothy Fanny Nevill
Sent from
Down
Postmark
SP 11 74
Source of text
Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection)
Physical description
ALS 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9632,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9632.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22

letter