From Frederick Currey   3 July 1862

3, New Square | Lincolns Inn

July 3. 1862

My dear Sir,

My friend Mr. Wollaston of Chiselhurst has a plant of Spiranthes gemmipara which has thrown up a fine spike—1 The flowers will be in perfection in a few days— I dont know whether it would be worth your while to go as far as Chiselhurst, but if so Mr. W. would be glad to submit it to your examination—

He has paid great attention to the cultivation of British Orchids, although not specially to their mode of fertilization—

I see you consider Ophrys arachnites a species—2 Mr. Wollaston entertains a strong opinion that it is a hybrid between ophrys apifera & O. aranifera— If you do not happen to have seen his remarks upon the subject I think they would interest you— You will find them in the Volume of the Phytologist for 1855—3

Believe me | Yours sincerely | Fredk Currey

Chas Darwin Esqr.

P.S G. B. Wollaston Esqr. Chiselhurst | S.E

is my friend’s address—

CD annotations

3.2 If you … them in 3.4] double scored brown crayon
2
In Orchids, pp. 72–3, CD discussed the claim that Ophrys arachnites (a synonym of Ophrys fuciflora, the late spider-orchid) was ‘a mere variety of the varying Bee Ophrys’ (O. apifera); he concluded: ‘it seems to me that, until these forms can be shown to be connected by intermediate varieties, we must rank O. arachnites as a good species, more closely allied to O. aranifera in its manner of fertilisation than to O. apifera.’
3
G. B. Wollaston 1855.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3639,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3639