Ɛpsilon

To W. E. Darwin   30 November [1880]

[Down.]

(Nov. 30th)

My dear W.

If you can get a fine day & can spare a day (but it is a horrid shame to bother so busy a man) I shd like to examine some castings from Beaulieu Abbey. Or Netley wd possibly do.—1

I shd like to have some from within the precincts of the Abbey, from the turf & not from the square places with trap-doors where the tiles are exhibited—also some castings from those square places with trap-doors.— I am awfully perplexed about the trituration of the swallowed fragments & cannot make up my mind.

Very many thanks about Acacia petioles: if weather keeps mild the worms will perhaps work again & if so look under your Robinia.—2

Give my best of loves to Sara & my heart-felt sympathy for her misfortune in having married into such a dreadful family: our dear old mother feels the same for herself & for Sara.3

your affect. Father | C. Darwin

Murray writes that 500 more copies of the Book must instantly be printed off.—instead of losing 1 or 2 hundred pound, Frank & I shall make a few pounds.4

Postmark: No 30 80

1
In his letter to William of 23 [November 1880], CD wrote that he would know whether he needed William to acquire more worm-castings from Beaulieu Abbey, Hampshire, in a few days. Beaulieu is thirteen miles from Bassett, Southampton, where William lived; Netley Abbey is seven. For CD’s comments on the importance of trituration of small particles of stone in the gizzards of worms, see Earthworms, pp. 249–58. CD was probably unsure whether the rounding of the particles of stone was due to the action of the worm’s gizzard; see letter to W. E. Darwin, 17 December [1880].
2
William had made observations on how worms drew the petioles of the leaves of Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust or false acacia) into the mouths of their burrows; see letter from W. E. Darwin, 26 November [1880].
4
CD’s publisher John Murray had sold the initial print run of Movement in plants; see letter from R. F. Cooke, 26 November 1880. CD had estimated that he would make a loss on the initial 1000 copies printed, especially after considering the large number of review and presentation copies; see letter from R. F. Cooke, 4 November 1880, and letter to R. F. Cooke, 8 November [1880].

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 Or … do.— 1.3] interl
2.1 from] added
2.1 the turf] ‘the’ after del ‘the’
2.2 with trap-doors] interl
2.2 also] interl above del ‘&’
2.3 places] after del ‘holes’
3.2 perhaps] interl
6.1 more] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12876,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12876