To John Lindley   16 November [1861]1

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

Nov. 16th

My dear Lindley

I thank you warmly for your two notes & the store of specimens received this morning.2

I am ashamed that you have sent so many valuable specimens; for it is a chance whether I can make out for my purpose anything from dried specimens.— But I shall be very glad to have a try, & so again thank you cordially.— I have had a most obliging note from Mr Rucker (to whom I used your name) with promise of Catasetum & some Dendrobium.—3 I have written also to Lady Dorothy.4

I know how many irons you have in the fire & will not be unreasonable & I hope give no more trouble.

Yours very truly obliged | Charles Darwin

1
The year is given by the relationship to the letter to John Lindley, 1 November [1861]. See also n. 4, below.
2
Lindley’s letters have not been found. They were written in response to the letter to John Lindley, 1 November [1861].
3
Sigismund Rucker, who lived in West Hill, Wandsworth, is acknowledged in Orchids, p. 158 n., for having provided CD with specimens of these foreign orchids.
4
Lindley had suggested that CD write to Dorothy Fanny Nevill (see letter to D. F. Nevill, 12 November [1861]).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 received] above del ‘sent’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3321,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3321