Ɛpsilon

To Adolf Ernst   3 April 1882

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

April 3d. 1882

Dear Sir

I am extremely sorry to hear of your illness, but hope that you may soon grow stronger.—1 I enclose M. Perrier’s answer (& he is the highest authority in Europe) that the worm is probably a new sp. of Perichæta.—2 You will see that he wd. be glad to receive from you a collection of the Lumbricidæ3 from Venezuela: if you send them, they had better be sent direct to “M. Prof. E. Perrier Jardin des Plantes, Paris,”—as I am often ill.— Should you observe the ledges on the mountains I shd. like much to hear the result, though I do not suppose that I shall ever again publish on the subject.—4 Since the appearance of my book I have become doubtful whether I have not exaggerated the importance of worms in the formation of the ledges.— Perhaps they may be due to the sliding down & horizontal cracking of whole of the surface soil.

Pray excuse brevity as I am far from well. | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

2
Ernst had sent CD a common earthworm from Venezuela and asked him to forward it to an expert for identification (letter from Adolf Ernst, 2 March 1882). Edmond Perrier had carried out extensive research on earthworms and his work is frequently referred to in Earthworms; his answer has not been found. For the possible identity of what Perrier thought a new species of Perichaeta (a former genus of the earthworm family Megascolecidae), see the letter from Adolf Ernst, 2 March 1882, n. 3.
3
The Lumbricidae are a family of earthworms.
4
After reading CD’s discussion of the formation of ledges of earth on steep hill-sides in Earthworms, pp. 278–83, Ernst intended to examine the ledges in the hills around Caracas to determine whether they were produced by earthworms (see letter from Adolf Ernst, 2 March 1882).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added
1.10 horizontal] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13755,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13755