To J. D. Hooker   5 [November 1861]1

Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.

5th

My dear Hooker

You will commit suicide; but do look with lens at the Bolbophyllum rhizophora (sent this morning) & touch Labellum & white tips of upper petals which cross, with hair or fine bristle, & see if Labellum does not close in. on column.—2 It is a marvellous little beast.

My work must & shall soon end— God forgive me | C. Darwin

I imagine on fine day Labellum is thrown back & flower open.—

1
Dated by the relationship to the first letter to J. D. Hooker, 1 November [1861].
2
See the first letter to J. D. Hooker, 1 November [1861].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3308,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3308