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To Louis Rérolle   2 August [1869]1

Down, Beckenham | Kent

Aug 2d

Dear Sir

I am glad to learn that you are making such rapid progress in your translation.—2

“Distal” is a term used by English anatomists to express the part at greater distance from the body: as the tibia is the distal half of the leg.— It means the extreme or more remote half of the labellum from centre of flower.—

Thrips is name of genus or group, & is used by Latreille, who places it under his “Aphidiens”: but it is very different from an Aphis or puceron. I believe that entomologists do not now place Thrips & Aphis close together.3

Pray use your own discretion about such epithets as “saddle-formed”—“boat-shaped” &c &c—; but I think it would be advisable to use them once.—

By “bank” at p.40 I referred to a steep grassy slope, with no bushes & fully exposed to strong winds.—

I am much obliged for your offer to look at your M.S, but as I am far from strong & much engaged, I will not accept your kindness.—

The day before yesterday I despatched a note (& it is the last which I shall have to send) on Epipactis palustris, addressed to “Place d’Ainay, Lyon”: if you have not received it, will you be so good as to enquire at your post-office.4

Pray believe me | dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Louis Rérolle, 30 July 1869 (Correspondence vol. 17).
2
Rérolle was translating Orchids into French (Rérolle trans. 1870).
3
Pierre André Latreille had included the genus Thrips in his family Aphidien; see Latreille [1802–5], 12: 338–52. In 1836, Alexander Henry Haliday erected a new order for Thrips, the Thysanoptera, which he separated from the Hemiptera (true bugs), the order that included aphids (see Haliday 1836, p. 440). Puceron: aphid (French). See Orchids 2d ed., pp. 122, 126.
4
CD’s letter to Rérolle has not been found, but his additional notes on orchids were published in ‘Fertilization of orchids’ and Orchids 2d ed. CD had asked Alexander Goodman More to make observations on Epipactis palustris (Correspondence vol. 17, letter to A. G. More, 24 June [1869]). CD’s account of More’s observations is in ‘Fertilization of orchids’, pp. 149–50 (Collected papers 2: 146). See also Orchids 2d ed., pp. 98–9, and Rérolle trans. 1870, pp. 101–2.

Bibliography

Collected papers: The collected papers of Charles Darwin. Edited by Paul H. Barrett. 2 vols. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 1977.

‘Fertilization of orchids’: Notes on the fertilization of orchids. By Charles Darwin. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 4th ser. 4 (1869): 141–59. [Collected papers 2: 138–56.]

Haliday, Alexander Henry. 1836. An epitome of the British genera in the order Thysanoptera. Entomological Magazine 3 (1835–6): 439–51.

Latreille, Pierre André. [1802–5.] Histoire naturelle, générale et particuliere, des crustacés et des insectes. (Suites à Buffon.) 14 vols. Paris: F. Dufart.

Orchids 2d ed.: The various contrivances by which orchids are fertilised by insects. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition, revised. London: John Murray. 1877.

Orchids: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862.

Rérolle, Louis, trans. 1870. De la fécondation des orchidées par les insectes et des bons résultats du croisement. By Charles Darwin. (French translation of Orchids.) Paris: C. Reinwald.

Summary

Gives the definition of ‘distal’ and explains what ‘thrips’ are. Suggests that LR uses his descretion in his translation of Orchids about certain descriptive phrases such as ‘saddle-formed’, but suggests he use them each at least once.

Declines offer to look over LR’s translation.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-6848F
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Louis Rérolle
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Aguttes (dealers) (20 February 2020, lot 240)
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6848F,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6848F.xml

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