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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.
At Wallace’s suggestion he offers CD his observations on the seed-gathering habits of ants. Suggests their role in seed dispersal.
At work on the last part of his book [Contributions to the flora of Mentone (1867–71)].
Has found that Ophrys insectifera can reproduce asexually.
Thanks JTM for information on ants.
Mentions letter "from a Texas gentleman" Gideon Lincecum describing ants that plant seeds [see 3082].
Notes that fly orchid is unattractive to insects. Asks JTM to attempt fertilisation experiment with this plant.
He will send his book [Harvesting ants and trap-door spiders (1873)]. Describes two new types of trap-door spider nests.
Discusses JTM’s research on habits of insects. "How incomparably more valuable are such researches than the mere description of a thousand species."
He does not accept Wallace’s definition of instinct because it excludes "inherited experience", i.e., "knowledge acquired by and transmitted through ancestors".
House-flies do not seem to have an instinctive fear of trap-door spiders.
Miss Forster gives him news of CD.
Much obliged for seeds. Will expose seeds to chemical vapours.
Comments on JTM’s spider experiments.
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.
He will repeat the experiments in which CD found that formic acid vapour killed seeds [see 8866]. John Lindley describes effects of other acids on germination.
He has tabulated the large amount of variation in English Ophrys apifera.
CD has clarified the way to conduct the formic acid experiment.
His preliminary results with formic acid show that it inhibits germination of several kinds of seed. It also inhibits growing of mildew, which he speculates may facilitate germination.
He has added carbolic acid to the seed germination experiments and sends more results on the effect of formic acid. Formic acid inhibits mildew on dough but not on seeds.
Mildew never grows in ants’ nests.
Sends an account, from the Mishnah, of grain stored by ants.
Comments on experiments of touching seeds with acid.
Formic acid kills seeds but only rarely makes them dormant – as he presumes ants do. He finds great variation in the vigour of individual seeds. Harvester ants, used in place of formic acid, do not affect germination.
Sends abstract of Martin Ziegler’s paper on sensitive movements in Drosera ["Sur un fait physiologique observé sur des feuilles de Drosera", C. R. Hebd. Acad. Sci. 74 (1872): 1227–9].
JTM’s experiments with formic acid and ants have failed to reveal the secret of the ants, but have taught him a great deal about germination.
Criticises paper by Ziegler [see 9339].
Acid experiments on seeds have failed.
Charles Martins has given the first Darwinian lectures on zoology at Montpellier.
Joseph Duval-Jouve is also a Darwinian. The latter has lost his position as Inspector of the Academy because of his liberal views.
Wallace suggests that a trap-door spider with an exposed nest preys on nocturnal insects.
Did not know Duval-Jouve was an evolutionist.
Delighted at JTM’s success with spiders.
On JTM’s experiments with acids on seeds.