To David Moore   28 June 1874

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

June 28th 74

Dear Sir

I hope that you will excuse the liberty which I take in writing to you. I am very anxious to examine and make experiments on the bladders on the floating leaves of Utricularia. Professor Dyer informs me that you perhaps will have it in your power, & would be so kind as to send me a living plant in a tin box by Post with damp moss, & which I hope that I might make to grow.1

I formerly made many observations on Drosophyllum, but there are two points which I neglected to observe; & I find that they have lost all their plants at Kew; & Prof: Dyer again tells me that you were formerly most successful in its culture; & if you could spare me a plant it would be of great value.2

With apologies for this trouble, I remain dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

LS(A)

1
William Turner Thiselton-Dyer’s recommendation of Moore may have been in the missing portions of his letters of 25 June 1874 or 26 June 1874 (see also the letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 9 June 1874 and n. 3). Utricularia is the genus of bladderworts.
2
See letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 26 June 1874. Drosophyllum lusitanicum is the Portuguese sundew or dewy pine; Drosophyllum is a genus of only one species.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.4 by Post] interl in CD’s hand
2.1 there] in CD’s hand above del ‘that their’
2.3 again] interl in CD’s hand

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9519,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9519