Ɛpsilon

To G. J. Romanes   14 September [1878]1

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

Sep 14th

My dear Romanes

Thanks for note just received.2 I have dreadful news about the onions. I am nearly sure there is not a single union! Most have died: Many consist of two quite distinct perfect bulbs, in close contact, but each with its proper character.—3 Many have formed only a single bulb, & this seems to be all red or all white. They are not yet ready to be dug up, but I base hardly a ghost of a hope.— The two kinds look so different that I cannot avoid suspecting that they are distinct species; & this wd explain failure. If you are not wholly sick of whole job; I shd. think that white, red & black Radishes wd be good to try— or white & red carrots or beet.— I believe these kinds come true by seed.—

I am heartily sorry at the loss of so much of your valuable time.— Do not answer, this, unless you have something special to say.—

Yours sincerely, | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the reference to CD’s growing onions for Romanes at Down; see letters to G. J. Romanes, 7 March 1878 and 13 May [1878]. See also letter to G. J. Romanes, 16 June [1878].
2
The letter from Romanes has not been found.
3
CD had agreed to grow red and white onions at Down for Romanes’s grafting experiments, which were designed to throw light on CD’s hypothesis about inheritance, pangenesis; see n. 1, above. For pangenesis, see Variation 2d ed. 2: 349–99.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 Most] above del ‘Many’
1.3 perfect] interl
1.5 ready to be] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11491,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11491