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To Anton Kerner von Marilaun   31 October [1876]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Oct 31st

Dear Sir

I am very much obliged to you for so kindly sending me your Schutzmittel der Bluthen &c.2 It is a most acceptable present. I do not know whether it is the same essay which I saw it stated has lately appeared in the “Naturforscher,” & which I immediately ordered from my bookseller.3 I wish that your essay had appeared 6 months ago, as it would have been very useful to me in writing a book, which will be published in 2 or 3 weeks’ time & which I will do myself the pleasure to send you.—4

With much respect I remain, Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

1
The year is established by the reference to Kerner 1876 (see n. 2, below).
2
There is an annotated copy of Kerner’s ‘Die Schutzmittel der Blüthen gegen unberufene Gäste’ (The protective measures of flowers against uninvited guests; Kerner 1876) in DAR 139: 15.1.
3
In Nature, 26 October 1876, p. 584, a paper by Kerner had been advertised as appearing in Naturforscher, August 1876, under the translated title ‘On the natural means of protection of flowers against their animal destroyers’. In fact, a summary of Kerner‘s book (Kerner 1876) was published in Der Naturforscher, 5 August 1876, pp. 301–4. CD’s bookseller was Williams & Norgate, but no letter to them on the subject has been found.
4
Cross and self fertilisation was published on 10 November 1876 (Correspondence vol. 24, Appendix II). Kerner’s name is on CD’s presentation list (ibid., Appendix IV). See also this volume, Supplement, letter to Anton Kerner von Marilaun, 20 November 1876.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10659F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10659F