To John Obadiah Westwood 25 June [1860]1
Down Bromley Kent
June 25th
My dear Sir
I see in last Gardeners Ch. by signature “W”, that some one has sent you Hive-Bees & Humble-bees with pollen-masses of Orchids, sticking to them;2 as I have so long watched orchids & never seen a Bee visit one,3 I shd much like to see these specimens, if you would lend them to me & not think that I am giving you too much trouble.—4 I know the pollen-masses of most orchids, & think that I could recognise the genus, & perhaps species of orchis.— I shd. like to know locality, where taken.—
Hoping that you will excuse, me, | I remain | My dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin
I hope that you will have a pleasant meeting—5 my health is too bad to come.—
I shall soon go from Home for a week,6 so that your specimens, if kindly sent, will not be returned immediately.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Orchids: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862.
Summary
Would like to borrow the bees that, as reported in Gardeners’ Chronicle, were sent to JOW with pollen-masses of orchids sticking to them. CD has never seen a bee visit an orchid. He believes he could identify the genus and perhaps species of the orchids the pollen comes from.
His health is too bad to attend the meeting [of British Association for the Advancement of Science].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2844
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John Obadiah Westwood
- Sent from
- Down
- Postmark
- JU 26 60
- Source of text
- Oxford University Museum (Hope Entomological collections)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2844,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2844.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 8