To J. D. Hooker   29 December 1868

Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.

Dec. 29. 68

My dear Hooker,

Your letter is quite invaluable, for Nägeli’s Essay is so clever that it will & indeed I know it has, produced a great effect; so that I shall devote three or four pages to an answer.1 I have been particularly struck by your statements about erect and suspended ovules.2 You have given me heart and I will fight my battle better than I shd otherwise have done. I think I cannot resist throwing the contrivances in Orchids into his teeth.3 You say nothing about the flowers of the Rue; ask your colleagues whether they know anything about the structure of the flower and ovarium in the upper most flower.4 But do’nt answer on purpose.

I have gone thro’ my long Index of Gard. Chron., which was made solely for my own use, and am greatly disappointed to find, as I fear, hardly anything wh. will be of use to you. I send such as I have for the chance of their being of use. 5

We all enjoyed your remark about the marine. I should like Owen to see it & that I shd have the pleasure of watching his expression.6

Yours affectionately | Ch. Darwin

LS

1
Hooker’s letter has not been found. CD refers to Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli’s paper, Entstehung und Begriff der naturhistorischen Art (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 25 December [1868] and n. 6).
2
In Origin 5th ed., pp. 152–3, CD noted, Dr. Hooker informs me that of the ovules within the same ovarium, in some cases the upper ones alone and in other cases the lower ones alone are fertilised; and he suggests that this probably depends on the direction in which the pollen-tubes enter. If so, the position of the ovules, even when one is erect and the other suspended, would follow from the selection of any slight deviation in position which might favour their fertilisation and the production of seed.
3
In his response to Nägeli 1865 in Origin 5th ed., pp. 151–7, CD did not include any examples of contrivances of orchids.
5
See letter to J. D. Hooker, 25 December [1868] and n. 4. The enclosure has not been found.
6
CD refers to Richard Owen. See letter to J. D. Hooker, 25 December [1868] and n. 15. The reference to the marine has not been identified.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6515,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6515