From W. C. Marshall 25 September [1878]1
Derwent Island | Keswick
Sept. 25th.
Dear Mr. Darwin
I am sending you with this a plant which I suspect of being insectivorous, you will perhaps remember that I sent Horace a specimen of this; last year, wh. reached him so withered as not to be recognisable.2 I find that the flower, wh. was common in one or two beds in this garden last year, has hardly appeared at all this year; and the plant wh. accompanies this is the only one I can find at this time. I have been unable to make any further observations & can only state that at times great numbers of minute insects adhere to the plant; in most cases to the under side of the leaves, & that the leaves sometimes show discoloured spots where the insects rest.
I hope this plant may at any rate enable you to determine the species & get more specimens if you think the case worth observing. (There are insects on the plant sent.) I can probably send you more next year if you want them, as I have told the gardener to preserve the plant if he finds it.
I noticed some very fine & greedy pinguiculas this year, I was astonished by the numbers of flies they had caught & send you the butchers list of two fine plants I gathered at the end of July on Sty Head Pass.3
leaf | Plant A | leaf | Plant B | ||
1 | } | withered but many flies | 1 | } | withered & remains of flies numerous but not distinct enough to count |
2 | 2 | ||||
3 | 36 | 3 | |||
4 | 34 | 4 | 22 | ||
5 | 26 | 5 | 57 | ||
6 | 40 | 6 | 7 | ||
7 | 16 | 7 | 21 | ||
8 | 12 | 8 | 22 | ||
9 | 9 | 9 | 19 | ||
10 | 2 | 10 | 11 | ||
175 | 11 | 5 | & 2 seeds | ||
12 | 0 | ||||
164 |
Allowing for the old leaves on wh. the remains of the flies were so decayed as to be un-countable & for the 2 or 3 un-expanded leaves on each plant, I am sure it is well within the mark to say that they must devour 200 flies a piece during the season.
These were plants selected as being fine, but I am certain I could have found hundreds like them, the weather had been very fine.
If you wish to send me any message about these plants I shall be at 122 Mount St. next week.
yrs. very truly | W. C. Marshall
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Summary
Observations on insectivorous plants.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10173
- From
- William Cecil (Bill) Marshall
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Derwent Island
- Source of text
- DAR 86: B1–2
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10173,” accessed on 19 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10173.xml