Ɛpsilon

To Thomas Rivers   13 October [1866]1

Down Bromley Kent

Oct 13th

My dear Sir

I thank you most sincerely for all the trouble which you have so kindly taken about the purple nuts. I was greatly interested in the case, but I find after seeing your specimens that I dare not trust my case.2

Indeed I wish most truly that I lived near you, or was strong enough to pay you a visit that I might profit by some of your varied knowledge; but such cannot be.

With many thanks, believe me | Yours truly obliged | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Thomas Rivers, 8 October 1866.
2
Rivers had written to CD that he would send specimens of purple nuts from a neighbour’s tree (see letter from Thomas Rivers, 8 October 1866). CD’s request for the specimens has not been found, but it is likely that he had asked for nuts of the purple-leaved hazel (Corylus maxima purpurea). In Variation 2: 330, CD mentioned the species in his discussion of correlated variability as an example of a plant in which the leaves, fruit, and seeds vary together in colour.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.2 knowledge] above del ‘fortune’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5241,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5241