From Fritz Müller1   21 July 1878

Blumenau, Sa. Catharina, Brazil,

21. Juli 1878.

Verehrter Herr!

Ich schicke Ihnen einige Samen einer schönen Cassia, die ich grade von einem Freund bekommen habe, dem ich vor einigen Monaten die unreifen Früchte gezeigt hatte.2 Diese Art ist in der Provinz Sa. Catharina sehr selten, und ich kenne nur eine einzige Pflanze davon, welche etwa 50 km von meiner Wohnung wächst. Es war ein grosser Baum (ungefähr 12 m dick), der vor vielen Jahren geschlagen wurde, und aus dessen Wurzeln zahlreiche junge Schösslinge sich gebildet haben. Diese haben in diesem Jahre zum ersten mal geblüht. Seit vielen Jahren, so oft ich jenen Weg entlang kam, traf ich mehr oder weniger zahlreiche Stücke eines unserer grössten und schönsten Schmetterlinge, nemlich Callidryas Menippe, dicht bei dieser Cassia, auf der ich letzthin auch die Raupen fand.3 Man sieht nur äusserst selten sonst irgendwo ein einzelnes Stück von Callidryas Menippe, welche hier beinah ausschliesslich auf die unmittelbare Nachbarschaft jener einzigen Cassia-Pflanze beschränkt ist. Obwohl ja natürlich die Verbreitung der Schmetterlinge durch diejenige der Futterpflanzen ihrer Raupen bestimmt wird, so ist es doch recht merkwürdig, dass in einem grossen Gebiet eine Art auf einen einzigen Baum beschränkt sein sollte …

incomplete

1
For a translation of this letter, see Appendix I. According to Alfred Möller, all Fritz Müller’s letters to CD were written in English (see Möller ed. 1915–21, 2: 72 n.); most of them have not been found. Many of the letters were later sent by Francis Darwin to Möller, who translated them into German for his Fritz Müller: Werke, Briefe und Leben (Möller ed. 1915–21). Möller also found final drafts of some Müller letters among the Fritz Müller papers and included these in their original English form (ibid. 2: 72 n). Where the original English versions are missing, the published version, usually appearing in German translation, has been used.
2
CD had already received seeds of two other species of Cassia sent by Müller (see letter to Fritz Müller, 16 May 1878 and nn. 3 and 4), and possibly some sent by Hermann Müller (see letter from Hermann Müller, 5 July 1878 and n. 1). On 9 August 1878, CD sent some of these seeds to Kew, and on 26 August sent seeds from the Cassia mentioned in this letter (Inwards book, Archives, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew).
3
Callidryas menippe is a synonym of Anteos menippe, the orangetip angled-sulphur; its principal host plant is Cassia ferruginea, a leguminous tree native to north-east Brazil, which can grow to a height of fifteen metres and has bright yellow flowers (Born and Lima 2005, p. 522). Müller lived in the south-eastern province (now state) of Santa Catarina.

From Fritz Müller1   21 July 1878

Blumenau, Sa. Catharina, Brazil,

21. July 1878.

My dear Sir!

I am sending you some seeds of a beautiful Cassia that I have just now received from a friend to whom I had shown the unripe fruit some months ago.2 This species is very rare in the Province of Sa. Catharina, and I know of only one single plant, which grows around 50km from my home. It is a large tree (around 12 m thick), which was cut down many years ago, and from whose roots numerous shoots have grown. These flowered for the first time this year. For many years, whenever I came along this path, I encountered more or less numerous specimens of one of our largest and most beautiful butterflies, namely Callidryas Menippe, close by this Cassia, and on it I recently also discovered the caterpillars.3 It is only extremely rarely that one ever sees a single specimen of Callidryas Menippe, which over here appear to be limited exclusively to the immediate neighbourhood of that single Cassia plant. While the propagation of butterflies is of course determined by that of the food plant of its caterpillars, it still is rather odd that in a large area one species should be limited to a single tree …

incomplete

1
For a transcription of the original German of the published source of this letter, see Transcript. According to Alfred Möller, all Fritz Müller’s letters to CD were written in English (see Möller ed. 1915–21, 2: 72 n.); most of them have not been found. Many of the letters were later sent by Francis Darwin to Möller, who translated them into German for his Fritz Müller: Werke, Briefe und Leben (Möller ed. 1915–21). Möller also found final drafts of some Müller letters among the Fritz Müller papers and included these in their original English form (ibid. 2: 72 n). Where the original English versions are missing, the published version, usually appearing in German translation, has been used.
2
CD had already received seeds of two other species of Cassia sent by Müller (see letter to Fritz Müller, 16 May 1878 and nn. 3 and 4), and possibly some sent by Hermann Müller (see letter from Hermann Müller, 5 July 1878 and n. 1). On 9 August 1878, CD sent some of these seeds to Kew, and on 26 August sent seeds from the Cassia mentioned in this letter (Inwards book, Archives, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew).
3
Callidryas menippe is a synonym of Anteos menippe, the orangetip angled-sulphur; its principal host plant is Cassia ferruginea, a leguminous tree native to north-east Brazil, which can grow to a height of fifteen metres and has bright yellow flowers (Born and Lima 2005, p. 522). Müller lived in the south-eastern province (now state) of Santa Catarina.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11623A,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11623A