Ɛpsilon

To Francis Darwin   5 August [1880]1

Down—

Aug 5.—

My dear F.—

Your criticism all excellent.—2

I had remembered Lotus & sent correction to Printers.3 Further on I have given the reference to Sachs & his comparison of movements of plants to those of animals.—4

I have added reference to Stahl; but please remember to tell me, where later numbers of Bot. Zeitung are kept, that I may add page to Stahl.5 I hunted yesterday & could not find any but the old bound volumes— I despatched Ch. IX to you this morning & am now at Ch. X— There are only 12 Chapters— I am very tired so will write no more—

Thank God we can see daylight through the work— I am so sorry that your holidays shd. be spoiled by this accursed work.—

C. D.—

Averrhoa cut all right, but leaflets sometimes sink lower & I have added this.—6

1
The year is established by the reference to corrections to Movement in plants.
2
Francis was correcting proof-sheets of Movement in plants.
3
Lotus is the genus of trefoil or deervetch; several species are discussed in Movement in plants. The printers were William Clowes & Sons.
4
CD quoted remarks by Julius Sachs on the resemblance between plant and animal movements in Movement in plants, pp. 571–2 n.
5
CD had received an offprint of an article by Ernst Stahl from Botanische Zeitung (Stahl 1880; see letter from Francis Darwin, [1 August 1880] and n. 2). The article is cited in Movement in plants, p. 446.
6
A woodcut and diagram of Averrhoa bilimbi (bilimbi or cucumber tree), showing the angular movement of leaves going to sleep, appeared in Movement in plants, pp. 330–1; CD explained in the text that part of the falling movement (from eighty-five to seventy-five degrees) had not been included in order to fit the diagram on to the page (ibid., p. 332).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.1 have] interl
2.2 the] interl
6.1 cut] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12679,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12679