From Hermann Müller 2 April 1877
Lippstadt,
April 2, 1877.
My dear Sir
Your agreement to my suggestions and criticisms on your work is a great pleasure to me, and I am very much obliged to you for your advices regarding the experiments to be made with Viola tricolor and the other plants with two kinds of flowers. Four years ago I began such experiments, but unforeseen difficulties frustrated them.1 Rhinanthus and Euphrasia being parasites during their youth, I did not succeed in getting seedlings from them.2 The small-flowered Viola tricolor commonly is self-fertilised before opening its flowers. Supposing that pollen from a distinct stock would be prepotent, I crossed many of its flowers; but my experiments were interrupted before being finished by my absence during the vacancies.
Induced by your letter I will collect as soon as possible and sow a large number of seeds of the small flowered V. tricolor in order to discover whether both forms appear amongst the seedlings. I will also, with greater perseverance, repeat the cross and self fertilisation of the large and small flowered form of Viola tricolor and perhaps of Lysimachia vulgaris and Calamintha alpina.3
My brother lately in the highlands (Campos) of South Brazil has discovered a white flowered Viola species with subterraneous cleistogameous flowers. He says in his last letter to me, that he has in view to collect seeds of both kinds of flowers in order to experiment on them.4
My brothers paper on the neuration of the wings of the two sexes of Lepidoptera has not yet been printed. I will send it to you as soon as I have received it.5
In the next numbers of Kosmos two essays of mine will appear, in which I have attempted to explain some pecularities of entomophilous flowers by what you have statet on the effects of cross and self-fertilisation.6
With the highest respect | yours very sincerely | H. Müller
CD annotations
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.
Forms of flowers: The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1877.
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.
Orchids 2d ed.: The various contrivances by which orchids are fertilised by insects. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition, revised. London: John Murray. 1877.
Summary
Is pleased that CD agrees with HM’s suggestions and criticisms of CD’s work. Will undertake experiments with Viola tricolor seeds to see if they produce both large- and small-flowered plants.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10921
- From
- Heinrich Ludwig Hermann (Hermann) Müller
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Lippstadt
- Source of text
- DAR 111: A88
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10921,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10921.xml