Ɛpsilon

From W. E. Darwin   [2 November 1862]1

1 Carlton T.

Sunday.

My Dear Father.

I counted a pod this morning as carefully as possible by tens sweeping away the tens each time. it is rather a job.2 in a little bit of paper enclosed I send a sample of the seeds I counted, though with some misgivings whether I ought not to omit them3

tell me whether you consider them sterile or not. Any worse than those I did not count. I am afraid you’ll have a job to open the paper

Your affect son | WE Darwin

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to W. E. Darwin, 4 [November 1862] (Correspondence vol. 10); 2 November was the preceding Sunday.
2
CD had asked William to count the number of seeds in the pods of the three different forms of Lythrum salicaria; he warned him that it would be tedious work (see Correspondence vol. 10, letter to W. E. Darwin, 30 [October 1862] and n. 13).
3
On 2 November 1862, William recorded in his Botanical notebook (DAR 117: 50) that he had counted the seeds in one pod of the long-styled form, excluding ‘those evidently void or those shrivelled on the convex side’.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3362F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3362F