To Raphael Meldola   24 July [1878]1

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

July 24th

My dear Sir

I do not think that the Petunia is anything very remarkable; but thank you for your kindness.—2

I received Weismann all right.—3

You may perhaps like to keep enclosed, just received—4

In Haste | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Raphael Meldola, 13 June 1878.
2
Meldola’s letter enclosing or accompanying the petunia has not been found.
3
Meldola evidently had returned the copy of August Weismann’s third essay on sexual selection in Daphnidae that CD had lent him (Weismann 1876–80; see letter from Raphael Meldola, 13 June 1878).
4
The enclosure has not been found, but it was probably the ‘curious Lepidoptera case’ mentioned in the letter to Fritz Müller, 24 July 1878 and n. 4.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11627,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11627