To W. E. Darwin [19 May 1864]1
Thursday
My dear Wm
Yr observation on the 1 big anther with its differently sized pollen grains is a quite new & most extraordinary discovery.2 I remember distinctly seeing one anther much larger than all the others; but I never dreamed of the pollen-grains differing.
Never mind whether it kills you or not search more flowers & measure pollen & keep memorandum how many times you succeed for I shall lay great stress on this to me most unexpected discovery.
I return your letter (which keep most safely) & it may be of service to you, but more especially because I think you have written one, or 2 words wrong which I have pencilled for correction.3
Never mind Menianthes Rhamnus4 or your life but work this out. Goodbye | what weather | C. D.
I wish you many ever get the little mare.5 She does beautifully—
Footnotes
Summary
Mentions WED’s extraordinary discovery of some pollen-grains of different sizes. The observations must be followed up.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5333
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Erasmus Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 210.6: 186
- Physical description
- L(S) 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5333,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5333.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 18 (Supplement)