Reports seeing flowers of wild cherry bitten off in same manner as primroses [see 9418 and 9444]. In this case it was done by a squirrel, though birds also bite the flowers of the cherry-tree.
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The Charles Darwin Collection
The Darwin Correspondence Project is publishing letters written by and to the naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882). Complete transcripts of letters are being made available through the Project’s website (www.darwinproject.ac.uk) after publication in the ongoing print edition of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin (Cambridge University Press 1985–). Metadata and summaries of all known letters (c. 15,000) appear in Ɛpsilon, and the full texts of available letters can also be searched, with links to the full texts.
Reports seeing flowers of wild cherry bitten off in same manner as primroses [see 9418 and 9444]. In this case it was done by a squirrel, though birds also bite the flowers of the cherry-tree.
CD forwards letter from F. J. Cohn [11093] that provides confirmation of observations by Francis Darwin on the contractile filaments protruded from the glands of Dipsacus.
Sends letter from Fritz Müller [11191] containing observations on plants and insects of South Brazil, with prefatory comments.
CD’s letter on wide distribution of freshwater plants and animals introduces a letter to him from Arthur H. Gray [see 11497].
Comments on a letter from Fritz Müller [11839] and particularly on the subject of the disappearance of certain structures in organisms. FM’s explanation deserves serious consideration.
Reports information sent by E. Schulte [12254] on the colours of the male Diadema bolina.
Discusses extent to which consciousness came into play in the origin of certain instincts, including sexual display.
CD has repeated a test of whether hybrids of the common and Chinese goose are fertile inter se. Reports his success, and comments on its significance for the theory of descent.
Replies to Francis Galton’s paper on tranfusing blood between rabbits to test Pangenesis [Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 19 (1871): 393–40]. FG’s conclusion that his experiments prove Pangenesis to be false is "a little hasty", since CD had never maintained that gemmules in the blood formed any part of his hypothesis.
Refers H. H. Howorth, the writer of "A new view of Darwinism" [Nature 4 (1871): 161–2], to Variation for a discussion of fertility and sterility of organisms in relation to increased food and other factors.
Replies to C. R. Bree’s letter of 27 July [Nature 6 (1872): 260] contending that CD was wrong about early pedigree of man.
Defends the statement of CD’s view in Wallace’s review [Nature 6 (1872): 237–9] of Bree’s book [Exposition of fallacies … of Darwin (1872)].
Sends a letter from William Huggins about a case of inherited fright in three generations of mastiffs. Discusses the different origins of instincts and their inheritance.
Recounts instances suggesting that animals have a sense of direction.
In reply to a query [in Nature 19 (1879): 433] CD reports that vessels full of water were kept on the deck of a ship to discourage rats from gnawing holes in the ship’s water casks.
Comments on article ["Perception and instinct in lower animals", Nature 7 (1871): 377–8].
Explains his contention that "many of the most wonderful instincts have been acquired, independently of habit, through the preservation of useful variations of pre-existing instincts". Cites examples: sterile workers of several species of social insects have acquired different instincts; movements of tumbler pigeons. Speculates that "many instincts have originated from modification or variations in the brain".
"The following fact with respect to the habits of ants, which I believe to be quite new, has been sent to me by a distinguished geologist, Mr J. D. Hague [see 8788]; and it appears well worth publishing."
Sends a letter from J. D. Hague confirming his earlier observation [see 8788] of frightened behaviour of ants when they come upon dead ants. CD had asked for confirmation because J. T. Moggridge had suggested that the ants’ behaviour was alarm at the scent of the observer’s fingers.
CD, in commenting on Wyville Thomson’s "Notes from the Challenger" [Nature 8 (1873): 347–9], recapitulates his work on rudimentary male cirripedes [Living Cirripedia], especially the complementary males attached to hermaphrodites. Offers an explanation, on evolutionary grounds, of their function and size.
Prefaces Fritz Müller’s observations on termites and stingless bees [see 9281].
Comments on J. T. Moggridge’s article on the fertilisation of Fumaria capreolata [Nature 9 (1874): 423].
CD has observed hundreds of primrose flowers cut off their stalks, and conjectures that this was done by birds to obtain the nectar. Asks readers of Nature in England and abroad whether primroses are subject to such destruction in their localities.