Ɛpsilon

To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer   22 December 1873

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Dec 22. 1873

My dear Mr Dyer

I thank you heartily. Your letter & extracts are of much value to me, & it was very good of you to take so much trouble.1 I had wished to know about the re-secretion of bloom, & had ascertained that this does not occur in Desmodium.2 I am particularly glad to hear about Robinia, which I knew slept & had thought of syringing, but shd perhaps have neglected.3

The scepticism of Du Chartres about Dionæa is very rich.4

With very many thanks | yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

LS

1
Thiselton-Dyer’s letter has not been found.
2
CD had performed experiments on the effects of water on leaves of Desmodium gyrans (now Codariocalyx motorius) in October 1873; his notes are in DAR 209.12: 107–8, 111. Bloom is the epicuticular waxy covering that occurs on the leaves and fruit of many plants.
3
CD studied the effect of water on leaves of Robinia pseudo-acacia in 1877; his notes are in DAR 209.12: 167–72.
4
Pierre Etienne Simon Duchartre had argued that the idea that leaves of Dionaea absorbed dissolved animal substances disagreed with contemporary knowledge of the function of leaves and so did not deserve serious discussion (Duchartre 1867, pp. 357–8).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9189,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9189