Notes on various instances of dimorphic stamens.
Showing 1–20 of 42 items
Notes on various instances of dimorphic stamens.
Gives an extract from his notes on Marcgravia umbellata, an epiphyte that might be the plant that Bates refers to as matador.
Sends CD a paper ["Ant-agency in plant structure", published in Spruce Notes of a botanist on the Amazon and Andes, ed. A. R. Wallace (1908)] on plant structures he believes are the work of insects; asks him to forward it to the Linnean Society [read 15 Apr 1869].
Writes of his support for the Origin, before which he had been much concerned by the delimitation of so-called species.
Describes the floral structure and fertilisation of some melastomes;
discusses the direct agency of insects in modifying the structure of flowers.
No summary available.
The return of some of his diplomas found by her; ARW's stereoscope; spiritualism; health.
No summary available.
No summary available.
No summary available.
Describes chaotic political situation in Barra; “the President went away & left no one in charge of the state.” Officials have sucked all the money in the Treasury. Worst season of year; no collecting; living on very meager food. Will stay 12 or 15 months although it’s very difficult and is unhappy “buried in forest.” Disturbed by unsettling news of problems in England received via London papers; voyage by river from San Gabriel to San Jeronimo; collecting specimens of ferns; plans to travel with Agostinho; problems with lazy, incompetent Indian servants; wants news of whether Sir Robt Humbugck [sic: Schomburgk] has published on vegetation of Rio Negro.
Became worried when hadn’t heard from you (ARW); wondered what “catastrophe” found you, “whether you were shipwrecked, or got married” or overdosed “on plum pudding.” Finally learned of the fire that took your ship and collections; sympathize with your “sufferings and irreparable losses” and admire your stoicism. “I [too] have] looked death in the face.” Local Indians became drunk at a public feast and “threatened to murder all the whites” (all three of us). We were obliged to keep “constant [armed] watch for two days and nights.” Had they attacked, they could have easily killed us “for they were 150 against 3.” Local scoundrel named Chagas, “with a face exactly like the back of a Surinam toad” (ie. hideously pock-marked), has been helpful in arranging river expeditions for plant collecting, but “also took a special delight in cheating me.” Currently we’re preparing for a voyage up the Casiquiare, with the intention of entering the Rio Cunucunuma; next year we’ll explore the sources of the Orinoco.
Journey from Guayaquil, heart-attack, paralysis, general ill-health and poverty, inability to collect insects for ARW; botany, illness preventing his work on collection of mosses; bitterness at treatment by Sir William Hooker; newspaper reports on Darwin's Origin of Species, geographical distribution of species; ARW's Malayan collections; collectors in the Andes; tameness of native birds; marriage; possibility of returning to England.
ARW's new stereoscope; Latham's failure to publish Spruce's vocabularies, Latham's bankruptcy; return of the MS to Spruce; New Year greetings to ARW and his "charmante épouse".
Spiritualism; ARW's memoir on Malay migration; inherited deafness in cats; Paris Exposition.
“We now have now several hundred [plant] specimens dried and drying”; sowed seeds of palms and fruit trees; have flowers including orchids. In September hope to send my collections to England and then go upriver, will explore Montalegre [sic] and north shores of Amazon. Ferns abundant here, especially Hepaticae. Enclose a note for Mr. Smith about his plants from Kew. Bringing assistant from London was a mistake, as he is drained of energy in this hot climate; cannot keep up with blacks, who are also “expert at climbing trees” with a rope and work for half the pay. Has seen ARW, who has “quarreled [sic] & separated long ago from Bates, who is now at mouth of the Tocantins. ARW has gone to Monte Alegre.
No summary available.
No summary available.
No summary available.
No summary available.
No summary available.