To W. C. Williamson   22 October [1877]

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

Oct. 22d

My dear Sir

It was very kind of you to send me the specimens, but I grieve to say that when I opened the little parcel a fragment of glass fell out, & within the cup of the slide there was only a little dry ball of the scales of sphagnum moss.— The resemblance of the first leaves to those of D. rotundifolia seems to me an interesting fact, & indicates that D. spathulata is a modified form.1

It is a fact of the same kind as that of the first leaves of the Ulex being trifoliate.2

I sent you a message a little time ago through Lady Lubbock with respect to Bolbophyllum, but I can give only the conjecture which is in my Orchid book p. 138 2d. Edit.3

Pray believe me | My dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Postmark: OC 22 77

1
Williamson probably used sphagnum moss as a packing material to protect specimens of Drosera spathulata (Australian sundew). CD had discussed D. spathulata in Insectivorous plants, p. 280, noting the difference between its mature leaves and those of D. rotundifolia (common or round-leaved sundew). The first embryonic leaves (cotyledons) and the leaves of seedlings often differ from the mature form.
2
As Ulex (gorse) matures, the trifoliate seedling leaves transition into simple leaves; the trifoliate shape is the ancestral form (Boodle 1914).
3
Bolbophyllum is a genus of orchids with small, dull-coloured flowers; in Orchids 2d ed., p. 138, CD conjectured that the elastic and constantly moving labellum of the flower was of use in attracting insects. His message to Williamson, sent via Ellen Frances Lubbock, has not been found.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 fragment] after del ‘fr g’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11196,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11196