To J. T. Moggridge 10 March 1873
Summary
Much obliged for seeds. Will expose seeds to chemical vapours.
Comments on JTM’s spider experiments.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Traherne Moggridge |
| Date: | 10 Mar 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 146: 379 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8805 |
To J. T. Moggridge 27 August 1873
Summary
Comments on experiments of touching seeds with acid.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Traherne Moggridge |
| Date: | 27 Aug 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 146: 380 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9030 |
From J. T. Moggridge 1 February 1873
Summary
He does not accept Wallace’s definition of instinct because it excludes "inherited experience", i.e., "knowledge acquired by and transmitted through ancestors".
House-flies do not seem to have an instinctive fear of trap-door spiders.
Miss Forster gives him news of CD.
| Author: | John Traherne Moggridge |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Feb 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 217 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8756 |
From J. T. Moggridge 12 July 1873
Summary
Sends his paper on Ophrys insectifera, translated into German by H. G. Reichenbach [Abh. Kais. Leopold.-Carol. Dtsch. Akad. Naturforsch. 33 (1870) no. 3], which shows the intermediates between O. aranifera and O. apifera. He has since gathered information on variation in Ophrys.
| Author: | John Traherne Moggridge |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 July 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 218 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8977 |
From J. T. Moggridge 22 July 1873
Summary
He will repeat the experiments in which CD found that formic acid vapour killed seeds [see 8866]. John Lindley describes effects of other acids on germination.
He has tabulated the large amount of variation in English Ophrys apifera.
| Author: | John Traherne Moggridge |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 22 July 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 219 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8984 |
From J. T. Moggridge 24 July 1873
Summary
CD has clarified the way to conduct the formic acid experiment.
| Author: | John Traherne Moggridge |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 24 July 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 220 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8986 |
From J. T. Moggridge 30 July 1873
Summary
His preliminary results with formic acid show that it inhibits germination of several kinds of seed. It also inhibits growing of mildew, which he speculates may facilitate germination.
| Author: | John Traherne Moggridge |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 30 July 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 221 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8990 |
From J. T. Moggridge 22 August 1873
Summary
He has added carbolic acid to the seed germination experiments and sends more results on the effect of formic acid. Formic acid inhibits mildew on dough but not on seeds.
Mildew never grows in ants’ nests.
Sends an account, from the Mishnah, of grain stored by ants.
| Author: | John Traherne Moggridge |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 22 Aug 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 222 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9024 |
From J. T. Moggridge 4 November 1873
Summary
Formic acid kills seeds but only rarely makes them dormant – as he presumes ants do. He finds great variation in the vigour of individual seeds. Harvester ants, used in place of formic acid, do not affect germination.
| Author: | John Traherne Moggridge |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 4 Nov 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 223 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9133 |
| Moggridge, J. T. | (7) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (7) |
| Moggridge, J. T. | (2) |
