Ɛpsilon

To William Herbert   26 June 1839

June 26th. 1839—

W Herbert1

Sir

I hope you will excuse me taking the liberty of sending you a copy of my Journal, during the voyage of the Beagle— knowing that you have interested yourself in the Natural History of S America, I have ventured to hope that some few parts of my volume might interest you, although it contains no botanical information.— I feel extremely grateful for your kindness in writing so long a letter to Professor Henslow in answer to the questions I sent him— I can hardly hope you will excuse me troubling you once again—but you mention new facts, which have much interests me. You say “ ”2 are the two hybrid Hippeastra referred to from the same or different parents? I am anxious to know whether the greater efficacious of the pollen was due to some difference in character of its producer, or simply to the fact of its coming from another flower & plant although of the same variety.?— You also observe in your letter, on the difficulty of crossing Crocuses, & in an early paper in the Hort. Transact you also allude to this & couple the case with that of Europæan Heaths;3 & if I understand rightly explain it by the pollen becoming ripe before the flower opens.— Might I beg the favour of your opinion, whether in these & other such flower you are decidedly of opinion that neither insects (by using force with their jaws) or other cause could carry the pollen from one to another flower of the same species being in blossom at the same time, & close together.—

I ask because I have been led to believe, that amongst organic being producing seminal offspring there exist no such thing as a true permanent hermaphrodite—ie. that every individual occasionally, though perhaps very rarely, after long intervals is fecundated by a other indiv, in short that almost plant is occasionally fecundated as in as in diœcious genera— I am fully aware how presumptuous I must appear, to speculate on subjects on which I have made no experiments, & still more so in taking the liberty of addressing you but, if when at leisure in the country you will ever so briefly answer me these questions, I shall feel extremely grateful.— Might I also ask, whether you have ever known a hybrid (or mongrel), which in its successive generations (impregnation from other quarter not being suspected) has reverted to either parent, or varied in manner different, or in a greater degree, than you would have anticipated as probable from the effects of soil &c as in ordinary variation—

I have the honour to remain with the greatest respect | Your obliged servant | Charles Darwin

1
The name and date were added in ink by CD. The rest of the text is in pencil.
2
In the final version these quotation marks presumably enclosed a transcription of the concluding part of Herbert’s letter dealing with Hippeastrum, around which CD had placed quotation marks (see CD’s annotations to paragraph 12 of the letter from William Herbert to J. S. Henslow, 5 April 1839).
3
W. Herbert 1822, p. 27.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 hope … me] interl
1.1 taking] altered from ‘take’
1.4 of my volume] interl
1.8 have much] interl
1.8 interests me] before del ‘greatly’
1.9 different parents?] before del ‘that [‘that if the former it shows that’ interl del] in the pollen of the same form a [above del ‘one’] flower *on one plant [interl] is more efficaceous’
1.9 am anxious] above del ‘wished’; ‘am’ above del ‘was’
1.10 was] altered from ‘is’ above del ‘was’
1.10 some] after del ‘their’
1.11 producer,] above del ‘parent’
1.11 although … variety. 1.12] interl
1.12 observe] above del ‘state’
1.13 also allude] ‘also’ interl
1.16 & other such] interl
1.17 neither] interl
1.17 (by … jaws)] interl; ‘(by’ over ‘although’; ‘with’ over ‘)’; ‘jaws’ after del illeg
1.17 could] above del ‘can never’
1.18 another] above del ‘the other’
1.18 being … together 1.19] interl
2.1 have] after del ‘am’
2.2 seminal] after del ‘by’
2.2 permanent] interl
2.2 hermaphrodite] before del ‘during all their generations’
2.3 every individual] below del ‘every species’ and previously del ‘all [illeg]’
2.3 after long intervals] interl
2.4 is fecundated] ‘is’ above del ‘are’
2.4 a] interl
2.4 other] above del ‘separate’
2.4 indiv] above del ‘one’
2.4 in short … fecundated as in 2.5] interl; ‘almost’ above del ‘every’
2.5 genera] interl after del ‘class’ and previously del ‘plants’
2.7 in taking] ‘in’ interl
2.7 of addressing you but] interl
2.8 will ever] after del ‘have half’
2.10 (impregnation … suspected) 2.11] interl after del interl ‘not being’
2.12 would] after del ‘could’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-523,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-523