To M. T. Masters   [8–13 April 1863]1

Down Bromley Kent

My dear Sir

I am much obliged for your note—2 I send 2 spikes of the Corydalis; some of flowers are in nearly intermediate state.—3 I daresay I drew false inference, in my own mind alone, from your division of Peloria into two classes.—4

I had used term of arrest of development;5 but it seemed to me hardly applicable in such cases as this of Corydalis in which there is extra development of a part.—6 It is no doubt very theoretical to call them Reversions.—7

My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | C. Darwin

1
The date range is established by the relationship between this letter, the letter to M. T. Masters, 6 April [1863], and the letter from M. T. Masters, 14 April 1863.
2
The letter from Masters has not been found; however, see the letter to M. T. Masters, 6 April [1863].
3
In his letter to Masters of 6 April [1863], CD mentioned two different flower structures in Corydalis tuberosa (a synonym of C. cava).
4
See letter to Masters of 6 April [1863] and n. 5. The reference is to Masters 1863, p. 260.
5
CD’s previous use of this term has not been found. However, Masters cited Origin, p. 145 (Masters 1863, p. 260) where CD noted the abortion and also the shortening of nectaries in pelargoniums. In Variation 2: 58–9, CD referred to Masters’s use of the term ‘arrest of development’ in regard to peloric flowers. For CD’s 1862 and 1863 experimental notes on the occurrence of peloric flowers in pelargoniums, see DAR 51: B4–15.
6
CD refers to the development of a second functioning nectary in some flowers of Corydalis (see letter to M. T. Masters, 6 April [1863]); he called this the ‘redevelopment of a partially aborted organ’ (Variation 2: 59).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 false] ‘fa’ over illeg

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4091,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4091