Ɛpsilon

To R. I. Lynch   23 October [1877]1

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

Oct 23d

Dear Sir

Mr. Dyer suggests that I ought to examine the cotyledons or first leaves of some Coniferous plants.—2 Could you send me a few seeds of any 2 or 3 kinds which germinate pretty soon & easily.

I have been much interested by observing the cotyledons of some of the plants, which you were so kind as to select for me, but the observations are most tedious & for various reasons difficult.3

Dear Sir | yours faithfully | Ch.

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [21 October 1877].
3
CD had requested seeds from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 11 October [1877]). He recorded the movements of the cotyledons by placing a fine glass filament on the end of a leaf or stem that would then trace out the movement against a wet sponge or horizontal or vertical glass (see Movement in plants, pp. 10–66).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 2 or 3] interl
2.1 observing] above del ‘observing’
2.1 some of] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11199,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11199