From J. T. Moggridge 12 July 1873
2 Montague Villas | Richmond | (Surrey)
12 July 1873
My dear Sir
I take the liberty of sending you a copy of a paper on Ophrys insectifera, translated into German by Prof. H. G. Reichenbach, in which I have attempted to shew the principal forms which link together Aranifera & Apifera, & to classify these forms.1
This paper was originally written six years ago & rewritten in 1868; but, owing to “unavoidable delays”, it has only just reached me in print. Of course I should have liked to have revised & added to this notice; for, during the five years that have elapsed since the rewriting, I have accumulated a great quantity of notes bearing on the variation of Ophrys insectifera, & especially on the annual reproduction of individual forms or deviation from these forms.—
However, it would be most ungracious on my part to utter anything like a complaint; on the contrary, I am very sensible of the liberal conduct which this German Academy have shewn towards me in publishing, free of all expense, an expensively illustrated paper written by a foreigner & a stranger.2
I have lately received a present of a living trap-door spider in her nest, brought over by an American gentleman!—
She appears to be in perfectly good case, & often vigorously resists any attempt on my part to open the door of her nest, clinging on to it & dragging it down in precisely the same way that Nemesia caementaria does at Mentone.3
How interesting & how suggestive these facts of correspondence in habit are—
Here we have a spider from the further side of America, which constructs a nest of the ‘cork’ type; & which resists intrusion in precisely the same way as do the cork-nest-spiders of Europe!4
I should greatly like to collect a number of facts such as these, & to learn more of the geographical distribution of habit in animals—5
Believe me | yrs. very sincerely | J. Traherne Moggridge.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Desmond, Ray. 1994. Dictionary of British and Irish botanists and horticulturists including plant collectors, flower painters and garden designers. New edition, revised with the assistance of Christine Ellwood. London: Taylor & Francis and the Natural History Museum. Bristol, Pa.: Taylor & Francis.
Moggridge, John Traherne. 1869. Ueber Ophrys insectifera L. (part.) Dresden: E. Blochmann & Sohn. [Verhandlungen der Kaiserlichen Leopoldino-Carolinischen deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher 35 (1870): (3d paper) 1–16.]
Moggridge, John Traherne. 1871. Contributions to the flora of Mentone, and to a winter flora of the Riviera including the coast from Marseilles to Genoa. 4 pts. London: Lovell Reeve and Co.
Moggridge, John Traherne. 1873. Harvesting ants and trap-door spiders: notes and observations on their habits and dwellings. London: L. Reeve & Co.
Moggridge, John Traherne. 1874. Supplement to Harvesting ants and trap-door spiders: with specific descriptions of the spiders by the Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge. London: L. Reeve & Co.
Orchids 2d ed.: The various contrivances by which orchids are fertilised by insects. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition, revised. London: John Murray. 1877.
Summary
Sends his paper on Ophrys insectifera, translated into German by H. G. Reichenbach [Abh. Kais. Leopold.-Carol. Dtsch. Akad. Naturforsch. 33 (1870) no. 3], which shows the intermediates between O. aranifera and O. apifera. He has since gathered information on variation in Ophrys.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8977
- From
- John Traherne Moggridge
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Richmond
- Source of text
- DAR 171: 218
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8977,” accessed on 26 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8977.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21