Ɛpsilon

To Mary Treat   22 June 1874

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

June 22nd 74

My dear Madam

I am very much obliged for your extremely interesting letter, & I am glad to hear that you are studying Dionæa in so earnest a manner1   My observations on cultivated plants are now complete, and I shall publish them in six or nine months; though they will be of little value compared with those made on the plant in its own country. As you kindly offer me information, I should very much like to hear about one point. Dr Canby says that the same leaf will catch 2 or 3 insects successively. Now I find with cultivated plants that a leaf which has once caught a good sized insect, though it will open & remain so for a considerable time, has so little power of movement that it most rarely is able to catch a second insect or to close over any object. I should very much like to be able to say, what the truth is on this head.2

I remain dear Madam with my best thanks | Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

LS

2
William Marriott Canby of Wilmington, Delaware, had sent this observation on Dionaea (Venus fly trap) in response to a query from CD, who had mistakenly believed the plants were native there; Dionaea is native to the area around Wilmington, North Carolina (see Correspondence vol. 21, letter from W. M. Canby, 1 February 1873). CD cited information on this point from both Treat and Canby in Insectivorous plants, pp. 310–11; the book was published in July 1875 (Correspondence vol. 23, Appendix II).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9505,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9505