Ɛpsilon

From E. C. Rye   29 June 1870

10, Lower Park Field | Putney | SW

29 June 1870

Dear Sir,

As a former note of mine, ⁠⟨⁠with⁠⟩⁠ regard to insect aid in Orchid ⁠⟨⁠fertili⁠⟩⁠zation, happened to be at the ⁠⟨⁠time⁠⟩⁠ new to you, I venture to ⁠⟨⁠send⁠⟩⁠ a reference to a somewhat ⁠⟨⁠simil⁠⟩⁠ar occurrence, from The ⁠⟨⁠Amer⁠⟩⁠ican Naturalist, Vol. III, 1869, ⁠⟨⁠p. 10⁠⟩⁠9—in which the causes of ⁠⟨⁠death⁠⟩⁠ to Honey bees, through ⁠⟨⁠entan⁠⟩⁠glement in pollen masses of ⁠⟨⁠Asc⁠⟩⁠lepias, are treated of. (cf. 2.c.II ⁠⟨⁠p.⁠⟩⁠ 665).1 I came across it in working up the matter for 1869 ⁠⟨⁠“Zo⁠⟩⁠ological Record”.2

Yours truly | E. C. Rye

CD annotations

Top of letter: ‘Dichogamy’ pencil
1
See letter from E. C. Rye, 14 February 1870. CD’s reply has not been found. In American Naturalist 3 (1869): 109, a correspondent described how honey-bees trapped in the cleft gland of silkweed or milk-weed (Asclepias) were forced to pull out the gland, with the pollen masses attached to it, in order to escape; bees thus encumbered were often expelled from the hive and died. American Naturalist 2 (1868–9): 665 contained the original report of a honey-bee found dead with its legs bound together with silkweed pollen.
2
Rye mentioned the reports in American Naturalist in Zoological Record 6 (1869): 130. Further observations were made in American Naturalist 3 (1869): 388–9.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7252,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7252