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To Gaston de Saporta   4 February [1878]1

Down | Beckenham, Kent | Railway Station | Orpington S.E.R.

Feb 4

My dear Sir,

Your Permian fossil has stirred up the botanists at Kew, and I received this morning a letter from Mr. Dyer, Secretary to Sir J. Hooker, on the subject.

Sir J. Hooker suggested that the fossil was a Ceratopteris. I enclose the part (with a drawing) of the letter, relating to the submerged frond.2

I remain with the highest respect. | Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin.

Footnotes

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to Gaston de Saporta, 31 January 1878.
2
The enclosure and drawing have not been found. For Joseph Dalton Hooker’s identification, see the letter from W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [before 3 February 1878] and n. 5. Saporta had sent CD a tracing of a Permian leaf with his letter of 16 December 1877 (Correspondence vol. 25). William Turner Thiselton-Dyer was assistant director at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Hooker was director.

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

Summary

The Permian fossil sent by GdeS has stirred up the Kew botanists. Hooker suggests it was a Ceratopteris.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-11347
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Louis Charles Joseph Gaston (Gaston) de Saporta, comte de Saporta
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Conry 1972, p. 118

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11347,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11347.xml

letter

Darwin Correspondence Project
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