Ɛpsilon

To L. A. Errera   13 March 1879

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

March 13th 1879

Dear Sir

I have now read your book, & I hope that you will allow me to have the pleasure of thanking you sincerely for the very great interest which I have felt in reading it. There are quite a large number of new, original & ingenious views in your book. The case of the staminoid of Pentstemon & your observations on insects rarely visiting some varieties, seem to me excellent.—1

Long may you & M. Gevaert2 continue your labours in the good cause of Science is the earnest wish of one who is too old to do much more himself.—

My dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

The engraving of Primula is inimitably good.—3

P.S. If you have a photograph of yourself & can spare a copy, I shd. like to add it to my album.—4

1
See letter to L. A. Errera, 5 March 1879 and n. 1. In an appendix on Penstemon gentianoides (gentian beardtongue) and P. hartwegi (a synonym of P. hartwegii, Hartweg’s beardtongue), Errera had discussed the function of the staminodes (sterile stamens) in these species and recorded his observation that syrphid flies and bees preferentially visited one variety whose nectar was more accessible owing to differences in the distance from the base of the corolla to the point where the staminode curved inwards (Errera and Gevaert 1878, pp. 182–91).
2
Gustave Gevaert co-authored the main part of Errera and Gevaert 1878; Errera had written the appendix on Penstemon.
3
See plate on p. 108 (Errera and Gevaert 1878, facing p. 179); the illustration included detailed depictions of the pollen grains and stigmatic surfaces of the different stylar forms of Primula elatior (oxlip).
4
CD’s ‘Scientific Album’, which he started in 1864, has not been found (see Correspondence vol. 12, letter to T. H. Huxley, 5 November [1864]).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 Kent.] before bracketed & del ‘Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11928,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11928