To Richard Kippist   18 March [1862]1

Down

March 18th.—

My dear Sir

Will you be so good as to inform the Referee, to whom my paper may be referred, that, if it be ordered to be printed, I will endeavour to borrow from Mr Murray the two or three woodcuts, which would be almost necessary.—2 If, however, the Referee thinks fit, I will withdraw the paper, as nearly the whole will appear in my small work on the Fertilisation of Orchids.3 Or I could strike out as much as the Referee should think fit.— I am, however, not willing to spare the time to condense the whole.—

My dear Sir | Your’s sincerely | C. Darwin

R. Kippist Esq—

1
The year is established by the reference to CD’s paper on Catasetum tridentatum (a synonym of C. macrocarpum), read before the Linnean Society of London on 3 April 1862.
2
The woodcuts used in CD’s paper, ‘Three sexual forms of Catasetum tridentatum’, were those of C. tridentatum, Myanthus barbatus, and Monachanthus viridis prepared for publication in Orchids (see Orchids, pp. 232 and 239). Monachanthus viridis is a synonym of Catasetum macrocarpum, the jumping orchid. Myanthus barbatus is a synonym of Catasetum barbatum, the bearded catasetum. John Murray, CD’s publisher, had possession of the woodcuts, since Orchids was then in press.
3
Orchids was published on 15 May 1862 (Freeman 1977, p. 112).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.4 the whole] above del ‘all’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3477,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3477