From Roland Trimen   16 March 1863

My dear Sir,

I have received your kind letter of the 31^st. January, and am very glad to hear that my Orchid sketches & obs^ns. interested you.¹ You are quite right in supposing that there is no movement of the pollinia in the species I have described; I imagine that such motion is chiefly found in those species which have a cap of membrane over the viscid matter of the pollinia discs in situ,—certainly none of the Cape species that I have seen (all of which have the discs naked) present any phenomenon of the kind.²

I have been very much surprised, since my attention has been turned to the subject, at never meeting with a single insect (save the fly I have mentioned in connection with the Stellenbosch Disa (?))³ with a pollinium of a⁠⟨⁠ny⁠⟩⁠ kind attached to it. I have been collectin⁠⟨⁠g⁠⟩⁠ insects, especially Lepidoptera, ever since ⁠⟨⁠I have⁠⟩⁠ been out here,—and it certainly is ast⁠⟨⁠onishing⁠⟩⁠ that I have never fallen in with any ⁠⟨⁠pollinia-⁠⟩⁠laden moths or other insects.⁴

I am so little of a botanist ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ that I really am not sure whether Orchideæ are propagated by the tubers from year to year:—is it so or is their increase only provided for by seed? In the latter case, many species would fare but badly, I should fancy.

I am fully sensible of the compliment you pay me in suggesting that I should write a paper on the fertilising contrivances in some genera of Cape Orchids for the Linnean or some other Society, but I am really not equal to it.⁵ The subject is so new to me, & my botanical knowledge so very slight, that I have not a sufficient foundation whereon to construct a scientific paper. I far prefer to be permitted to send you any material I may obtain, for you to work up and elucidate in that able manner which is so thoroughly your own.⁶ I trust that your half-expressed fears that you would not be able to publish again on the Orchid subject may prove unfounded,⁷ and that I may be able to ⁠⟨⁠con⁠⟩⁠tribute something more to induce you to ⁠⟨⁠con⁠⟩⁠tinue y^r. illustrations of a subject which ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ to have hitherto been but “dimly ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ ⁠⟨⁠an⁠⟩⁠d “little understood” by naturalists.⁸

⁠⟨⁠I am⁠⟩⁠ sorry to say my N^os. V & VI and ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ ⁠⟨⁠Saty⁠⟩⁠rium are no longer in flower⁹   I shall take care to send you some flowers next Spring, if I am still in this locality¹⁰

I have sent you with this, through my brother,¹¹ sketches of the structure of Disa grandiflora (the finest of S. African Orchids) and of Herschelia caelestis, Lindley, found last month on the mountains here.¹² I have tried to colour these, but, having unthinkingly made the outlines on glazed paper, have not done as well I might. My brother Henry (71, Guildford St., Russell Sq^re. W.C.) is very fond of Botany, and has read your book¹³ with much interest. I have therefore sent him these two drawings to inspect, and asked him to send them on to you.

You will, I am sure, be ready to make allowances for any roughness or irregularity of drawing in my sketches, when I tell you the disadvantages under which I work. To begin with, I am far from strong,—indeed, I came out here for the benefit of my health.¹⁴ Living out of Cape Town, I have to leave Wynberg at $\frac{1}{2}$ past 8 every morning & do not get back after office till 5 or 6 p.m. One is in a very unfit state for work requiring minuteness & attention after six hours office work & 2$\frac{1}{2}$ hours omnibus in this climate; and you can imagine how difficult it is to work with any satisfaction by fits & starts in the Office. What spare time I have, too, is very much occupied with entomology, and then, besides, I am told that I mustn’t stoop more than I can help, & must take so much exercise per diem. Forgive these details; I cannot help grumbling sometimes, & thinking how delightful it would be to have all my time to give to natural history. I generally find some consolation in the reflection that very many others are in a similar position—obliged to follow distasteful work for a living.¹⁵

I am not quite clear as to the term ‘rostellum’.¹⁶ I don’t know how much it is to be understood as including. The Cape Orchids do not appear to have that special rostellum you describe in many British species. If you write again, tell me, for instance, the limits of the rostellum in Disa grandiflora, if you are able to make it out from my drawings.¹⁷

I shall look out for Bonatea, but am afraid, from localities I have seen quoted, that the Genus does not occur here, but in the Eastern part of the Colony.¹⁸

I have ventured to enclose you my photograph,¹⁹ as a prelude to my request that you will do me the kindness of sending me yours. It is true the advantage will be on my side in such an exchange, for Cape photographs are usually execrable, & never good. But the enclosed is the best I can get, & people here say (with one exception) that they “would know who it was”—an unusual admission as regards S. African cartes de visite.

I am, my dear Sir, | Yours very truly | Roland Trimen.