Ɛpsilon

From Hermann Müller   7 August 1875

Lippstadt,

Aug 7. | 1875.

My dear Sir,

My brothers “Bestäubungsversuche an Abutilon-arten” are published in ⁠⟨⁠2 words destroyed⁠⟩⁠1

I returned but a few days ago from an excursion of four weeks into the Alps and received when returning your admirable work on insectivorous plants which I have begun reading with extraordinary interest and for which I express to you my hearty thanks. Drosera rotundifolia being a common plant near Lippstadt, I am greatly rejoiced of your thorough examination of it, as I will have opportunity of seeing with my own eyes what you have detected.2

My excursions into the Alps are spent to the examination of alpine flowers and their fertilisation by insects. Last year I have published some articles in “Nature” in order to show that in the alpine region Lepidoptera are of greater importance as fertilisers of flowers than in lower localities, whilst Apidae, on the contrary, are greatly dimi⁠⟨⁠nished⁠⟩⁠3 ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ ⁠⟨⁠  ⁠⟩⁠tation, ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ ⁠⟨⁠con⁠⟩⁠vinced myself that the very outpost of flowers, in the subnivale region, is chiefly cross-fertilised by Diptera (Muscidae and Syrphidae) and that in many subnivale flowers adapted to Diptera cross-fertilisation takes place so regularly, that the possibility of self-fertilisation has been lost; for instance in most species of Saxifraga.4

I hope some more excursions into the Alps, to be made during the following years, will enable me to publish an essay on alpine flowers and their fertilisation by insects.5

Yours very sincerely | H Müller.

1
Fritz Müller’s ‘Bestäubungsversuche an Abutilon-arten’ (Pollination experiments on species of Abutilon; F. Müller 1871–3) was published in Jenaische Zeitschrift für Medicin und Naturwissenschaft. CD had received an offprint of the paper in December 1873 (see Correspondence vol. 22, letter to Fritz Müller, 1 January 1874). CD’s annotated copy is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. Abutilon is the genus of Indian mallow. CD probably asked for the name of the journal to refer to the paper in Variation 2d ed. 2: 117 n. 71.
2
Müller’s name is on CD’s presentation list for Insectivorous plants (see Appendix IV). Most of CD’s experimental work for the book was done on Drosera rotundifolia (common or round-leaved sundew). Apidae is a family of bees.
3
Müller’s series of articles on ‘Fertilisation of flowers by insects’ appeared in Nature between July 1873 and October 1877 (H. Müller 1873–7). The articles on alpine flowers (parts 7–9) appeared in issues for 12 November 1874, pp. 32–3, 10 December 1874, pp. 110–12, and 31 December 1874, pp. 169–71.
4
The subnival region is the uppermost mountain zone in which regular plant growth is still possible, immediately below the permanent snow line (OED). Muscidae is the family of houseflies; Syrphidae is the family of hoverflies. Both are in the order Diptera (flies and midges). Saxifraga (saxifrages) is the largest genus in the plant family Saxifragaceae.
5
Müller’s book Alpenblumen, ihre Befruchtung durch Insekten: und ihre Anpassungen an dieselben (Alpine flowers, their fertilisation through insect agency and adaptations for this; H. Müller 1881) was published in 1881.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10110,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10110