To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer   28 July [1877]1

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

July 28th

My dear Dyer

Will you please to thank Mr. Lynch for his M.S. which I have read with much interest. I have been observing the Averrhoa every day for special purposes, but have never noticed the phenomenon!2 Now that my eyes are opened I will look sharp for the movement.—

Be so kind as to fill up the enclosed card, as I know not what temperature to keep the plants, & whether it is a littoral species.3

Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 25 August 1877.
2
Richard Irwin Lynch was foreman of the propagating department at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. For his discovery about the spontaneous movements of the leaflets of Averrhoa bilimbi, see the first letter from R. I. Lynch, [before 28 July 1877], Lynch 1877, and Movement in plants, p. 330.
3
CD had received plants from Kew on 26 July (letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 26 [July 1877]).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11076,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11076