From James Tenant1 31 March 1857
March 31st/1857
Dr Sir
I now send the result of the experiments of the Seeds2 which I have been trying ever since you was at the Gardens
I have succeded in getting Several of them to take them by letting them go a day or two without food the Minnows take the millet very and so does the Gold fish one minnow took 5 Seeds this day and the Tench and Common Carp and Barbel take the Wheat after it is Soaked well in Water for 12 Hours
As an Illustration of the fact that Barbel will take Wheat Dr Crisp—a Fellow of the Society who is a great Angler told me, that he has taken Barbel and dissected them And found a quantity of Wheat in them and he says he has caught them near the water mills where the wheat has been spilt into the river but never could get them to take it as a bait3 I should be most happy to make any Experiment you might suggest and
I remain your | obedient Servt | Jas Tenant C Darwin Esqe
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Summary
Sends account of his successful experiments in feeding wheat seeds to minnows.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2069
- From
- James Tenant
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 205.2: 257
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2069,” accessed on 1 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2069.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6