To G. J. Romanes   14 November [1880]1

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

Nov. 14th

My dear Romanes

Many thanks for your kind sympathy.— My wife’s sister was, I fully believe, as good & generous a woman as ever walked this earth.—2

The proof-sheets have not arrived, but probably will tomorrow.3 I shall like to read them, though I may not be able to do so very quickly, as I am bothered with a heap of little jobs which must be done.— I will send by todays post a large book by Focke received a week or two ago on Hybrids & which I have not had time to look at, but which I see in Table of Contents includes full history of subject.4 & much else besides.— It will aid you far better than I can; for I have now been so long attending to other subjects & with old age, I fear I cd. make no suggestions worth anything. Formerly I knew the subject well.—

Kölreuter, Gärtner & Herbert are certainly far the most trustworthy authorities.5 There was also a German, whose name I mention in Origin who wrote on Hybrid Willows.6 Naudin, who is often quoted, I have much less confidence in.—7 By the way Nägeli (whom many think the greatest botanist in Germany) wrote a few years ago on Hybridism: I cannot remember title; but I will hunt for it, if you wish.8 The title will be sure to be in Focke.—

I quite agree with what you say about Passiflora.9 Herbert observed an analogous case in Crinum.10

Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from G. J. Romanes, 13 November 1880.
2
See letter from G. J. Romanes, 13 November 1880. Elizabeth Wedgwood had died on 8 November 1880 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).
3
Romanes had sent proof-sheets of his forthcoming article on hybridism (G. J. Romanes 1881).
4
Wilhelm Olbers Focke’s book, Die Pflanzen-Mischlinge, included a chapter on the history of plant hybrids from the earliest times to the present (Focke 1881, pp. 429–45). CD’s copy is in the Darwin Library–CUL.
6
Max Ernst Wichura’s work on hybrid willows (Wichura 1865) is mentioned in Origin 4th ed., p. 315, and Variation 2: 267.
8
Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli had published a number of articles on hybridism. CD’s copy of Nägeli 1866 (Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL) is extensively annotated.
9
Romanes discussed plants of species of Passiflora that were completely fertile with other species, and infertile with their own (G. J. Romanes 1881, p. 424); he drew the examples from Variation 2: 137–8.
10
Herbert had noted that various species of Crinum sent to Calcutta had crossed so freely that pure seed could not be obtained (Herbert 1837, p. 32). CD used this case as an example of pollen from a distinct species over time obliterating the action of a plant’s own pollen (see Cross and self fertilisation, p. 395 n.). Herbert’s successful crossing of Crinum capense with C. revolutum was also described by CD as a case of perfect fertility in a first cross between two distinct species (see Origin, p. 250; this passage is quoted in G. J. Romanes 1881, p. 424).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added
2.3 by Focke 2.4] interl
2.4 on Hybrids] interl
2.5 &] over ‘—’
3.2 wrote] above del ‘wrote’
3.4 Nägeli] below del illeg

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12814,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12814