From A. W. Bennett 8 May 1873
6, Park Village East, | Regent’s Park, | N.W.
May 8th. 1873.
My dear Sir
I am much obliged by your kindness in calling my attention to Müller’s book on Fertilisation, which I had already procured. & partially read, being indeed engaged to review it both for the “Academy” & the “Gardeners Chronicle”.1 It seems a most careful & valuable compilation; the part on the structure of the mouth of Insects has especially interested me; being in accordance with my own observations (though opposed to the statements of almost all entomologists) as far as Eristalis & other Syrphidæ are concerned.2 I tried about two years ago, but without success, to induce the Ray Society to entrust to me the editing of a similar compilation of all that is known up to the present time on the Fertilisation of flowers; possibly in a little while they may now be induced to take it up. I fear such a work would not be remunerative for any English publisher to undertake as a speculation on his own account.3
In an early no. of “Nature” you will see a note of mine on the Fertilisation of Viola arvensis.4
Believe me | very truly yrs Alfred W Bennett
C. Darwin Esq. F.R.S.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Cross and self fertilisation: The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1876.
Müller, Hermann. 1869. Die Anwendung der Darwin’schen Lehre auf Blumen und blumen-besuchende Insekten. [Read 18 May 1869.] Verhandlungen des naturhistorischen Vereines der preussischen Rheinlande und Westphalens (Botanik, Correspondenzblatt) 26: 43–66.
Müller, Hermann. 1873. Die Befruchtung der Blumen durch Insekten und die gegenseitigen Anpassungen beider. Ein Beitrag zur Erkenntniss des ursächlichen Zusammenhanges in der organischen Natur. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann.
Summary
Thanks for reference to Hermann Müller on fertilisation [Die Befruchtung der Blumen (1873)].
Publication plans.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8905
- From
- Alfred William Bennett
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Park Village East, 6
- Source of text
- DAR 160: 140
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8905,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8905.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21