Dear Sir—

I have so much to say that I hope you will excuse my writing instead of or in addition to my father—² We have only just come back here & the day being hot, waited so late for the 1. mile row—d^o. walk by the Pinguiculas, on w^h we were bent. that we came in $\frac{1}{2}$ h^r. after post went—& 2 h^rs. later I found all our nice specimens dry & pale—& sticking to the tin— I have floated them in water—but many corpses already float off! light & empty as they are   I counted 20 to 24 distinct remains of insects on many leaves— 1 live spider & one “hopper”³—a shaped animal—of great vigor & restlessness, have given me most amusement, among the $\frac{1}{2}$ caught. What makes them stay? for plainly the hopper c^d. go—but he only crawls from one leaf or stalk to another. The spider is free—whether by our jolting stimulating his nervous energy, I cant guess— Thursday he is dead now.⁴ It was nice to watch him—greedily drinking off his trunk what I suppose comes off the leaf   Then he cleaned 1 fore f^t. with the leathery tool— then sucked it again— then the other— His action, when he tried to walk, was like a very high stepping horse angry at the curb—I sh^d. say from the stickiness. But I want to know if it is sweet & opiate? as so many flower honeys are—& if he likes it. I hope he will be silly by morn—that I may see & I cannot else account for the [lazy] hopper.

A beetle was fresh enough to seem quite undigested to me—but he begins to look gummy— One of those whose bodies & heads are this shape.

I want to know if azaleas⁵ & others wh are called fly catchers by gardeners—tho they never close—but stick flies to the outside of their flowers—till they die & evaporate? or are absorbed—have any motive in so disfiguring all their throats     Why sh^d. they not keep all the honey inside the same & not be sticky out, unless they too want animal food? I do not know what others have found out abt this—

Drosera⁶ is far more sticky from every drop, at end of every hair, than this Pinguicula— Have you any suspicion of those glaucous sort of mosses wh grow flat & sticky in damp places shady waterfalls etc—hairs roughly so— I shall be glad to get anything you w^d. care to see—& probably this is a good region. Its only a pity you dont come. I hope y^r. son Horace is stronger than when he was here?⁷ I thought he might grow up strong enough—with judicious care, & cheerful bullying—mixed—

I counted 20 or 24 remains on various leaves, up to moths & active beetles—& good big spiders—& ants—(if our friend gets away—) The best were always in exposed places—on the edge of bank 4 f^t. above road—not in marshy hollows— I suppose we saw 200 plants—in $\frac{1}{2}$ mile stroll—

I hope they will recover & be posted when this goes—tomorrow— It is awfully nice for us (Father & me) to have anything to look out for—or that we can observe & we are very hard upon each others ideas—tho respecting each others facts sufficiently—not implicitly—so do set us some more, if you can—of anything I can observe

Have not yr Pinguiculas caught any flies, since they do so well?

I am not sure of any seeds,⁸ but think I found several—& ends of Free flowers stick there— I’m not sure of seed, $\frac{1}{2}$ seeds & remains will be washed off but will gladly send another lot—if it w^d. be of any use to you—or satisfaction.

Do you suppose the plant wants to eat the seeds? or that these survive its decay—& grow? I enclose one seed pod of its own— Grass seed I found fixed by position—if no suction had been there—

Please excuse so long & ill written a letter—

Old Sir G Airey has been in—full of Venus’ transit & his 9 stations—⁹

Hoping the leaves will arrive well & that you’ll give us further commissions

I am y^rs. truly | Theodosia Marshall

Thursday—