Ɛpsilon

To J. O. Westwood   30 July 1862

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

July 30th 1862

My dear Sir

I beg pardon for troubling you; but I shd. much like to see the Bee with the pollen masses which you said I might examine.1 If dried the specimen might come by Post; but if still in Bottle, please address it to C. Darwin

care of Down Postman

per Rail— Bromley

Kent.

My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | C. Darwin

1
In his letter of 14 May 1862 (Correspondence vol. 10), Westwood offered to send CD a preserved bee specimen with pollen masses attached to its head. In his letter of 1 August 1862, Westwood reported that the pollen masses had been shaken off, but offered to send the bottle containing the bee anyway. Westwood had sent similar bee specimens in July 1860 (see Correspondence vol. 8, letters to J. O. Westwood, 25 June [1860] and 9 July [1860]). In Orchids, p. 35, CD noted that Westwood’s specimens were evidence of the fact that bees visited orchids.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3670F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3670F