From G. R. Waterhouse 13 February 1858
Summary
GRW’s observations of and ideas on bees’ and wasps’ cells.
| Author: | George Robert Waterhouse |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Feb 1858 |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 23 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2216 |
Matches: 16 hits
- … GRW’s observations of and ideas on bees’ and wasps’ cells. …
- … make spheres & at given distance) The Wasp with Hexagonal Comb is sub-genus of Polistes’. …
- … had exhibited the nests of Icaria and other wasps mentioned in the letter at a meeting of …
- … I do very much wish that you could see the Wasp’s nest alluded to by M r . Smith, and …
- … of a Hornet’s nest, (& I regard the Hornet as a Wasp) in which the material of many of the …
- … cells being built simultaneously, whereas wasps and hornets construct only one cell at a …
- … sides— Now for a word or two about the Wasp’s, or Hornet’s nest, for they are the same—& …
- … in print I think I have never given any account of the Wasp’s nest— There then, is …
- … this important difference between the wasp’s nest & the Hive Bee’s—viz. that in the latter …
- … one and the same time but in the case of the Wasp the first comb, at least, is made by a …
- … views as to its structure is this—that the wasp never builds a single, isolated cell. —but …
- … has altogether smashed my theory by bringing the Wasp’s cell to bear upon it, but when a …
- … her neighbours to look to the outside— The wasp works at both sides of her cell, and …
- … of the nest— There’s another part of the Wasp’s cell that the insect perhaps can’t, or at …
- … cells of the different kinds of Bees & wasps, & especially have you paid attention to the …
- … of the outermost row in the completed wasp’s comb are not hexagonal—this is not always the …
From Frederick Smith March 1866
Summary
Discusses the stinging habits of wasps and bees and whether or not they leave their sting in the wound.
| Author: | Frederick Smith |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | Mar 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 197 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5023 |
Matches: 12 hits
- … Discusses the stinging habits of wasps and bees and whether or not they leave their sting …
- … and Crabronidae are a genus and a family of predatory wasps, respectively. Mutilla , …
- … and Cerceris are genera of predatory wasps. On the sequence of stimuli required to induce …
- … see Tinbergen 1969 , pp. 47–8. Ophius is a genus of parasitic ichneumon wasps. …
- … 35–6, CD described repeated stinging of a spider by a Pepsis wasp. Later, in Origin , p. …
- … wrote, ‘Can we consider the sting of the wasp or of the bee as perfect, which, when used …
- … own daughter being stung twice or thrice by a wasp that was shut up in the crevaces of her …
- … In fact I dont recollect any instance of a wasp leaving its sting in the wound. — If you …
- … L. 1986. Stinging behaviour of solitary wasps. In Venoms of the Hymenoptera: biochemical, …
- … Ch Darwin Esq Glued to first page : ‘
〈 〉 wasps leave〈 〉 stings in wound— Knows only … - … of stinging on the survival of bees and wasps, see Correspondence vol. 9, letter from …
- … more on the stinging behaviour of solitary wasps and an interpretation of its evolution, …
From J. B. Innes 14 September 1881
Summary
JBI’s observations on bees and wasps. The hexagonal cells made by solitary queen wasps do not fit explanation in Origin.
| Author: | John Brodie Innes |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 14 Sept 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 167: 39 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13337 |
Matches: 8 hits
- … JBI’s observations on bees and wasps. The …
- … hexagonal cells made by solitary queen wasps do not fit explanation in Origin . …
- … editions of Origin . Innes supposed that queen wasps made their nests alone. Neither he …
- … CD was aware that the principle of nest building by wasps was the same as with hive bees. …
- … Either several queen wasps work collectively to build a nest, after which the dominant …
- … of bees continues among my amusements. Wasps are their enemies and therefore are waged war …
- … in which she lays eggs to produce new worker wasps that then take over the building of the …
- … traditionally conveyed. Some of the Queen wasps, which are the only ones who survive the …
To J. B. Innes 22 September [1881]
Summary
Wasps’ nest has arrived.
Gives his view of how queen wasp builds a hexagonal cell by straightening walls between several cells, which she builds at the same time.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Brodie Innes |
| Date: | 22 Sept [1881] |
| Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13349 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … Wasps’ nest has arrived. …
- … Gives his view of how queen wasp builds a hexagonal cell by straightening walls between …
- … Either several queen wasps work collectively to build a nest, after which the dominant …
- … in which she lays eggs to produce new worker wasps that then take over the building of the …
- … was aware that the principle of nest building by wasps was the same as with hive bees. …
- … Down Sept 22 nd . My dear Innes The wasp’s nest has arrived safe, except part of the outer …
- … of the cells are also rounded. If a queen wasp were to make a single cell in the shape of …
From Berry Benson 10 April 1874
Summary
Supplies evidence to the contrary of CD’s assertion in Expression that dogs do not eat carrion.
Offers to send mud-wasps.
| Author: | Berry Benson |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Apr 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 149 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9401 |
Matches: 9 hits
- … of CD’s assertion in Expression that dogs do not eat carrion. Offers to send mud-wasps. …
- … researches 2d ed. , pp. 35–6, CD had described wasps’ nests in Brazil full of half-dead …
- … and paralysed spiders, and the manner in which wasps preyed upon spiders. …
- … CD did not refer to ‘mud wasps’ (or mud daubers), a …
- … name commonly applied to wasps that build their nests from mud. The reference is possibly …
- … A little while afterwards, the wasp came back to the web and gave it another shake. With …
- … World”
〈 3 or 4 words〉 〈 〉 tion of the “mud-wasps” as occurring in〈 〉 . With us they are … - … 4 or 5 words
〉 of one of these mud-wasps. Sit-〈 4 or 5 words〉 she saw one approach a web … - … down upon the piazza-floor, where he was followed by the wasp, but the spider escaped. …
To A. S. Wilson 9 August [1878]
Summary
Responds to ASW’s information about Erythraea
and about wasps on Scrophularia.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alexander Stephen Wilson |
| Date: | 9 Aug [1878] |
| Classmark: | Cambridge University Library (MS Add. 7339: 57) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11646 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … Responds to ASW’s information about Erythraea and about wasps on Scrophularia . …
- … publish the results. — Your remarks on the Wasps alighting on summit of the stems of the …
- … safely make any generalisation on relation of colours of flowers & visits of wasps. I …
- … however, speculating on the subject, but wasps visiting Tritoma upset my notions. I am …
- … 1878 , Wilson noted that he had observed wasps visiting the highest flowers first on stems …
- … were adapted for cross-fertilisation by wasps. The former plant genus name Tritoma is a …
To J. B. Innes 15 September 1881
Summary
CD interested in JBI’s observations of behaviour of bees. Finds his criticism about hexagonal cells made by queen wasps a good one. Cannot remember how he got out of the difficulty.
His book on worms to be published soon.
E. A. Darwin has died after short illness.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Brodie Innes |
| Date: | 15 Sept 1881 |
| Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13339 |
Matches: 8 hits
- … criticism about hexagonal cells made by queen wasps a good one. Cannot remember how he got …
- … British Museum had sent CD information on wasps’ cells in 1858 (see Correspondence vol. 7, …
- … Observations on the habits of ants, bees, and wasps. [Read 19 March and 17 December 1874, …
- … minds of insects now living in the world. Wasps have been as extraordinarily rare here, as …
- … The criticism about the hexagons made by queen wasps is a very good one: I well remember …
- … articles on the intelligence of bees and wasps in the 1870s, and in 1888 he published The …
- … on the supposition that since only queen wasps survived the winter they built their nests …
- … was momentary forgetfulness, as I collected wasps & hornets’ nests & studied the different …
To G. J. Romanes 16 April 1881
Summary
Discusses concept of intelligence in his Earthworms manuscript.
Remarks on GJR’s work on echinoderms.
Comments on Wilhelm Roux [Der Kampf der Theile im Organismus (1881)].
Discusses animal instincts, citing Fabre’s description of sand-wasps.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George John Romanes |
| Date: | 16 Apr 1881 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.587) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13118 |
Matches: 10 hits
- … Organismus (1881)]. Discusses animal instincts, citing Fabre’s description of sand-wasps. …
- … a synonym of Bembix , a genus of sand wasps) attacking a horsefly. Fabre had admitted that …
- … select a better case than that of the sand-wasps which paralyse their prey, as formerly …
- … nonsense is often spoken of the sand-wasp’s knowledge of anatomy. Now will anyone say that …
- … learns the art. — Now I suppose that the sand-wasps originally merely killed their prey by …
- … in Annales des sciences naturelles, zoologie . Sphecidae is the family of digger wasps, …
- … sand wasps, and mud daubers. …
- … Fabre had described instinctive behaviour in wasps of the genus Sphex ; …
- … he noted that the wasps always made two precise stings, the first under the neck and the …
- … 1879 , p. 129, Fabre described how the common wasp ( Vespa vulgaris , a synonym of Vespula …
From J. S. Henslow 7 April 1860
Summary
Sketch and description of a [wasp’s] nest from Cuba. [Notes by CD on wasps’ nests and comb-building habits of hive-bees.]
| Author: | John Stevens Henslow |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Apr 1860 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166.1:180 [diagram here] |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2750 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … Sketch and description of a [wasp’s] nest from Cuba. [ …
- … Notes by CD on wasps’ nests and comb-building habits of hive-bees. ] …
- … information about the form of cells in a wasps’ nest in Henslow’s possession. The diagram …
- … 1860 M r Smith showed me a supposed paper wasp nest from Siam also vertical—with cells at …
- … quite cylindrical. — M r Smith showed me wasps nest with common worker & Queen cells with …
To John Lubbock 15 December [1874]
Summary
Asks JL to send ten shillings for the Down Friendly Club.
Has just read JL’s paper on bees and wasps [J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool.) 12 (1876): 110–39]. Is astonished by their stupidity. The experiments on colour are especially good. Suggests JL examine their retinas; sends enclosure [missing] on eyes of reptiles and birds.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
| Date: | 15 Dec [1874] |
| Classmark: | University of Liverpool Library (Rathbone XXI.12.3: 4) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9760 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … Club. Has just read JL’s paper on bees and wasps [ J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool. ) 12 (1876): …
- … Observations on the habits of ants, bees, and wasps. [Read 19 March and 17 December 1874, …
- … laborious & valuable experiments on Bees & Wasps in Linn. Journal. — I am astonished at …
- … on his observations of ants, bees, and wasps ( Lubbock 1874–7 ) was published in the issue …
- … and scored the passage about bees and wasps seeming to have a preference for orange and …
- … route home without repeated coaching. Wasps seemed slightly cleverer. The enclosure has …
To J.-H. Fabre 31 January 1880
Summary
Comments on JHF’s book [Souvenirs entomologiques (1879)].
Discusses story told by Erasmus Darwin about a wasp cutting off wings of fly.
Sorry JHF is opposed to descent theory.
Suggests experiment concerning insects’ sense of direction.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Jean-Henri Casimir (Jean-Henri) Fabre |
| Date: | 31 Jan 1880 |
| Classmark: | DAR 144: 14; Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, Bibliothèque centrale, Paris (Ms FAB 32) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12443 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … Discusses story told by Erasmus Darwin about a wasp cutting off wings of fly. Sorry JHF is …
- … Erasmus Darwin had described a common wasp (probably Vespula vulgaris ) removing the wings …
- … à l’entomologie ( Lacordaire 1834–8 , 2: 460–1), in which the wasp was misnamed Sphex , …
- … a genus of digger wasps that paralyse prey (see Fabre 1879 , p. 124). Jean Pierre Huber ; …
- … you loved so much. ) Fabre named the wasps Cerceris julii , Bembex julii , and Ammophila …
- … Vol I p. 183. — 1794) that it was a wasp (guêpe) which he saw cutting off the wings of a …
- … the case described by my grandfather; the wasp after cutting off the two ends of the body …
From Frederick Smith 26 February 1858
Summary
Identifies an ant described by CD and discusses the predatory habits of Formica sanguinea.
Describes some wasps’ nests.
| Author: | Frederick Smith |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 Feb 1858 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 191 (fragile) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2226 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … CD and discusses the predatory habits of Formica sanguinea . Describes some wasps’ nests. …
- … cells. — He showed me that outside cells of wasps nest had traces of angle & says this is …
- … so even in 3 first cells formed by female wasps. — Polybia makes cells either concave or …
- … edge must be in nests of some Brazilian wasps. (Polybia)—the first comb is protected by an …
- … the nests of a Brazilian species of the wasp Polistes at a meeting of the Entomological …
From John D. Glennie Jr 6 April 1861
Summary
The stinging of bees and wasps contrasted.
| Author: | John David Glennie, Jr |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Apr 1861 |
| Classmark: | DAR 48: 70–3 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3113 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … The stinging of bees and wasps contrasted. …
- … use you please of what I state. Bees & wasps are not, on this point to be placed exactly …
- … escape the vengeance of her late enemy. The wasp, on the contrary, goes to work with far …
- … other of the (Amazon warrior) type. If the wasp stings & has the opportunity of escape she …
From Henry Wenman Newman [before 22 October 1861]
Summary
Replies to CD’s query (see 3778): the queens or females of the humble bees are not fertilised in the air. Offers a number of observations relating to the fertilisation of bees and wasps, which he has made in the course of sixty years.
| Author: | Henry Wenman Newman |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 22 Oct 1861] |
| Classmark: | Journal of Horticulture, Cottage Gardener, and Country Gentleman n.s. 2 (1861–2): 76–7. |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3292A |
Matches: 6 hits
- … relating to the fertilisation of bees and wasps, which he has made in the course of sixty …
- … never reached its destination. The queen wasp was more than double the size of the male. — …
- … drones; and the latter almost always hatched before the young queens. Wasps. — I have …
- … once observed the fertilisation of the wasp near Thornbury. On the 7th of September, 1847, …
- … very near (it was gradually descending) it proved to be a male and female wasp united. …
- … Each of the wasps was trying to fly in a different direction. They fell to the ground, and …
[Walsh, Benjamin Dann and Riley, Charles Valentine.] 1869b. Wasps and their habits. American Entomologist 1: 122–43.
Matches: 1 hit
- … Dann and Riley, Charles Valentine. ] 1869b. Wasps and their habits. American Entomologist …
From G. J. Romanes 17 April 1881
Summary
Looks forward to reading CD’s Earthworms.
Agrees that habits of sand-wasp are determined by natural selection.
Experiment of exposing plants to flashing light gives uncertain result.
| Author: | George John Romanes |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 17 Apr 1881 |
| Classmark: | E. D. Romanes 1896, p. 112 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13123 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … CD’s Earthworms . Agrees that habits of sand-wasp are determined by natural selection. …
- … the instincts of Sphex , a genus of digger wasps, on pp. 299–303. See letter to G. J. …
- … Fabre ’s account of the method used by the wasp to paralyse its prey, see Fabre 1879 , pp. …
- … or otherwise. Your ‘speculations’ on the sand-wasp seem to me very pithy— excuse the pun …
- … ganglion of the spider and the sting of the wasp are organs situated on the median line of …
- … the mere anatomical form of the animals—the wasp not stinging till securely mounted on the …
To G. J. Romanes 24 June [1881]
Summary
Discusses possible case of inherited memory involving Pompilus. Cites similar example of electric eel.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George John Romanes |
| Date: | 24 June [1881] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.530) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10813 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … 17 April 1881 . Pompilus is a genus of the family Pompilidae (spider wasps). In his …
- … letter to Romanes, CD had mentioned sand wasps and referred to Jean-Henri Fabre ’s …
- … animals , and compared the instincts of the wasps in stinging their prey to those of bees …
- … referred to the genus Bembex (a synonym of Bembix : sand wasps; see Fabre 1879 , pp. 129– …
- … 30). The taxonomy of these wasps has changed significantly since …
- … the nineteenth century, and many wasps formerly placed within Pompilus are now included in …
From J.-H. Fabre 18 February 1880
Summary
On instinct in insects. Intends to experiment as CD proposes.
| Author: | Jean-Henri Casimir (Jean-Henri) Fabre |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 18 Feb 1880 |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 2 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12493 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … was translated, but the error about the wasp was explained in a note ( ibid. , p. 123). …
- … Darwin ’s Zoonomia ; Darwin had described a wasp removing the wings of a fly ( E. Darwin …
- … had used the word Sphex to describe the Wasp that was actually observed. The fault went …
- … 1794–6 , 1: 183; see also n. 4, below). Sphex is the genus of digger wasps; …
- … these wasps, unlike …
- … the common wasp that Erasmus Darwin observed (probably Vespula vulgaris ), paralyse prey …
- … in the nest for larvae to feed on. Common wasps, on the other hand, kill prey and have …
To Frederick Smith [c. 17 February 1864?]
Summary
Sends, for identification, specimens of bees and wasps which fertilise orchids. [Notes in FS’s hand on the same sheet identify the specimens.]
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Frederick Smith |
| Date: | [c. 17 Feb 1864?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 70: 162 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3365 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … for identification, specimens of bees and wasps which fertilise orchids. [Notes in FS’s …
- … of Dolichovespula sylvestris , the tree wasp. CD mentioned both of the species with O. …
- … you— yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin A Wasp always seen fertilizing Epipactis Latifolia …
- … most of the Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps) mentioned had been identified for him by ‘ …
- … For his published references to the wasp pollinating E. latifolia , see ‘Fertilization of …
To Alexander Goodman More 24 June [1869]
Summary
Asks AGM to observe fertilisation of Epipactis palustris. Has found that E. latifolia is fertilised by wasps.
Making revisions for French edition of Orchids.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alexander Goodman More |
| Date: | 24 June [1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 146: 408 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6801 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Has found that E. latifolia is fertilised by wasps. Making revisions for French edition of …
- … of E. helleborine ) being pollinated by wasps in a note in DAR 70: 56, dated 13 August …
- … 1863. For his published references to wasps pollinating E. latifolia , see ‘Fertilization …
- … regularly and exclusively fertilised by wasps. — The motive for my applying this year is …
Document type
| letter | (123) |
| bibliography | (10) |
| people | (2) |
Author
| Darwin, C. R. | (53) |
| Müller, Fritz | (5) |
| Smith, Frederick (a) | (5) |
| Walsh, B. D. | (5) |
| Crüger, Hermann | (4) |
Addressee
| Darwin, C. R. | (70) |
| Lubbock, John | (6) |
| Müller, Hermann | (4) |
| Walsh, B. D. | (4) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (3) |
Correspondent
| Darwin, C. R. | (123) |
| Walsh, B. D. | (9) |
| Smith, Frederick (a) | (8) |
| Crüger, Hermann | (6) |
| Lubbock, John | (6) |
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Darwin in letters, 1858-1859: Origin
Summary
The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on species, he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace…
Matches: 1 hits
- … him up to date on the natural history of various bees and wasps. For assistance with mathematical …
