From W. J. Beal 22 October 1874
my address Office of | Superintendent of Horticultural Department, | State Agricultural College, | Lansing, Mich.,
Oct 22 1874
Mr. Chas. Darwin,
I see a printed note going through some of our periodicals said to be written by yourself in reference to birds cutting off the flowers of primrose, cowslip &c.1
Permit me to refer you to a note of mine in American Naturalist Page 380. Vol 2. 1869.2 The honey bee gleaning after the oriole had picked holes in lower part of Missouri current—(Ribes Aureum) Calyx.3 In this case, little girls were picking the flowers for the honey. Humble bees in large numbers were getting the honey in the legitimate way by taking it through the tube and so aiding in cross fertilization.
Yours very truly, | W. J. Beal. | a former student of Dr Gray.
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Cross and self fertilisation: The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1876.
Summary
Sends his observation of honey-bees gleaning after orioles had made holes in calyx of Missouri currant, while humble-bees were getting honey through the tube in the usual way.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9691
- From
- William James Beal
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- State Agric. Coll., Lansing, Mich.
- Source of text
- DAR 46.2: C60
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9691,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9691.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22
