Ɛpsilon

To Thomas Belt   15 January [1867]1

Down

Jan. 15

Dear Sir

I am extremely much obliged to you for so kindly sending me your paper on the distribution of seeds.2 It has interested me much. I hope that you will not be prevented from publishing on subject, if so inclined, by having sent me the MS., for it will be impossible for me to use your facts for some time.3 Some of the points had occurred to me, and I have just alluded to the subject in a new edition of my Origin of Species.4 The successive seasons is new to me. The case of the cashew fruit is most novel and curious. By an odd coincidence I have within last few months received several letters from S. Brazil on other and rather different cases of the apparent dispersal of seeds in that country.5 I have always imagined that wild pigs and other large mammals might disperse seeds of apples and peaches; but I know not whether apple seeds would be digested.

With very sincere thanks for your great kindness, I remain Dear Sir | Yours faithfully & obliged | Ch. Darwin.

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1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Thomas Belt, 12 January 1867.
3
Most of Belt’s articles were on geological topics (Royal Society catalogue of scientific papers); no paper by him on esculent fruits has been found.
4
See Origin 4th ed., p. 240.
5
CD refers to his correspondence with Fritz Müller in Destêrro (now Florianópolis, Brazil); see Correspondence vol. 14, letters from Fritz Müller, 2 August 1866, and 1 and 3 October 1866. See also Correspondence vol. 14, letter from Fritz Müller, 1 December 1866, and this volume, letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1867.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5364,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5364