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To A. W. Rimpau   13 December [1877]1

Dec. 13th.

Dear Sir

I am particularly obliged for your letter about the Beet & for your paper on the self-sterility of Secale, because I am purposing a sd. Edition of my Forms of Flowers & have quoted your statement, but I can easily strike out about the Beet, & give the additional reference about the Rye.—2 I hope that you will continue your valuable researches. The hybrids ore mongrels from the varieties of Triticum behave, apperently, quite like those from any two forms which are not highly variable.3

I remain, Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin.

Copy

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from A. W. Rimpau, 10 December 1877.
2
See letter from A. W. Rimpau, 10 December 1877 and n. 1. CD mistakenly refers to Forms of flowers; he added Rimpau’s observations to Cross and self fertilisation 2d ed., p. 370 n.
3
Triticum is the genus of wheat; in his letter of 10 December 1877, Rimpau had discussed some of the results of his experiments crossing different species and varieties of wheat, noting the great number of intermediate forms in the second generation.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11284,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11284