Ɛpsilon

To J. D. Hooker   [19 June 1847]

Down

Saturday

My dear Hooker

I write merely to say that your Books arrived safely & very much obliged I am for so magnificent a loan.— The October no. 1845 of Phytologist was not with the others; I opened the packet myself & classed immediately the loose nors. in vols. & so perceived it.— I have begun the Phytologist, & will go through all you sent & then immediately return them.—

I am truly glad to hear by yesterday’s note of your new plants from V.D. & N.Z.— It is a truly wonderful case & to me more odious than any one other case that I can call to mind.1 I cannot tell you how interested I shall be in seeing your results.

Pray mark out for the ignorant the plants common or closely analogous in D.V. N.Z. or F,2 & which are not common to the northern hemisphere.—

Farewell—with thanks for all the many things I owe you for.— | C. Darwin

1
CD was indicating his awareness of difficulties in the way of breaking down the accepted explanation of the distribution of species, which invoked a plurality of ‘centres of creation’. Hooker felt that migration alone could not explain the botanical relationship between the montane floras of New Zealand, Tasmania, and Tierra del Fuego. See letter from J. D. Hooker, 16 June 1847.
2
Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), New Zealand, and Fuegia (Tierra del Fuego).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.2 N.Z—] after omitted point
3.2 or F,] ‘or’ above del ‘&’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1099,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1099