To W. E. Darwin   [after 14 July 1862]1

My dear William

I write in hurry to say Lenny so ill (but not I hope dangerously) that I cannot attend to anything:2 so do not send off Valerian, till you hear.—3

How capitally you have been working— The Erythræa seems grand new case, if it does not fail.—4 Look to roughness of stigmas & size of pollen-grains in the 2 forms.—

I shd. enjoy quoting your observations.— I have hardly considered Valerian yet—

It is a fearful illness of Lenny | yours | C. Darwin

1
Dated by the relationship to the letter from W. E. Darwin, 14 July 1862.
2
Leonard Darwin was suffering from scarlet fever (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242); see also letters to W. E. Darwin, 4 [July 1862] and 9 July [1862], and letter to Asa Gray, 14 July [1862] and n. 3).
3
William had proposed to send CD specimens of Valeriana (see letter from W. E. Darwin, 14 July 1862). For CD’s request that William send specimens, see the letter to W. E. Darwin, [24 July 1862].
4
In the letter from W. E. Darwin, 14 July 1862, William had suggested that Erythraea centaurium might offer an additional instance of dimorphism.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 (but] parenthesis over comma

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3650,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3650