Ɛpsilon

From J. I. Rogers to Francis Darwin   6 June 1878

119, Cannon Street, | London, | E.C.

6th. June 1878

Dear Sir,

I think you told me that the Sensitive plant closes up at night.1 On enquiry of an Indian brother I find that there are plenty of snails, about Calcutta at any rate2   Though very different to ou⁠⟨⁠rs⁠⟩⁠ they are larger & more destructive. If they are night feeding like ours are, (and my brother thinks they are), the closing up of the leaves & the exposure of the prickles would be protective, especially if the body of the ⁠⟨⁠sn⁠⟩⁠ail be soft like ours. It would a⁠⟨⁠lso⁠⟩⁠ be equally protective against slugs, if there are any in the tropics: and in a lesser degree against animals that browse at night.

Yours faithfly | J Innes Rogers

F. Darwin Esq.

1
No letter from Francis Darwin to Rogers on this subject has been found, but for Rogers’s previous statements on the possible protection against insects afforded by the movements of the sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica), see the letter from J. I. Rogers to Francis Darwin, 25 March 1878. For CD’s and Francis’s experiments on the leaves of Mimosa pudica, see Movement in plants, pp. 374–5.
2
Rogers’s brother George Rogers was a solicitor in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11545,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11545