To R. D. Fitzgerald 9 February 1881
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
Feb. 9th 1881
Dear Sir
I received a few weeks ago your kind note dated Nov. 20th & this morning Part 6. of your magnificent work on Orchids.—1 I have read your account of Calæna & most curious it is; but I have as yet looked only at the other Plates. Your account of Calæna reminds me of the case of the Fly Ophrys in Europe; only here when fertilisation does occur it is cross-fertilisation.2 You will think me a bigot but I cannot avoid the belief that it may prove to be so with Calæna. It is, however, now evident that there is more self-fertilisation with the Orchideæ than I had supposed. From my experiments on the effects of self-fertilising & crossing, I imagine that a species could endure for a very long period self-fertilisation, unless it were subjected to very severe competition with other plants.—3
Should you on further consideration desire to dedicate your truly magnificent work to me, I can assure you that I shall feel greatly honoured.—4
Believe me, my dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin
P.S. I am always inclined to believe that every detail of structure has a meaning, but it would, I suppose, puzzle any one to conjecture the meaning of the wonderfully elongated divisions of the perianth of Sarcochilus Divitiflorus, as shown in your last Plate.—5
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.
Fitzgerald, Robert David. 1875–94. Australian orchids. 2 vols. Sydney: Thomas Richards.
Orchids 2d ed.: The various contrivances by which orchids are fertilised by insects. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition, revised. London: John Murray. 1877.
Summary
Thanks for pt 6 of [Australian orchids].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13045
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Robert David Fitzgerald
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Mitchell Library, Sydney (A 2546)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13045,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13045.xml