From J. D. Hooker 25 October 1873
Royal Gardens Kew
Oct 25th/73
Dear Darwin
Dyer & I have been busy over Nepenthes & have produced an analogous action to that in the cells of Drosera, in those of the glands of Nepenthes— viz a decided aggregation of protoplasm on application of the Ammon. Carb.—1
We are now trying the egg process. The pieces I put into old pitchers last night were unaffected this morning. Did I understand you that the pieces should be in square? I put in big lumps. We have still a great deal to do before ⟨ar⟩riving at any satisfactory results. The constant presence of insects in all open pitchers is a draw back: & we are going to experiment on virgin pitchers.
I thought I had in my last letter referred you to Voelcker’s analysis of the fluid at Kew in 1849.2
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Voelcker, Augustus. 1849. On the chemical composition of the fluid in the ascidia of Nepenthes. [Read 12 July 1849.] Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh 3 (1850): 233–40. [Also published in Annals and Magazine of Natural History 2d ser. 4: 128–36.]
Summary
Describes his experiments on Nepenthes; finds action analogous to that in Drosera.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9113
- From
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 103: 175
- Physical description
- inc †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9113,” accessed on 25 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9113.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21