Ɛpsilon

To A. W. Bennett   27 September [1874]1

Down | Beckenham, Kent.

Sep 27.

My dear Sir.

I return with many thanks the Bot: Zeitung which I had not seen.2 I am also obliged for your second note on the little points in Drosera, which I had seen & experimented on.—3 I see you refer to them in the last No. of Gard. Chronicle4

It was foolish of Mr Murray to discuss digestion without knowing anything of the facts & conclusions from months of work on my part.5

With many thanks— | My dear Sir. | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin.

Copy

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from A. W. Bennett, 21 September 1874.
2
Bennett had sent CD two issues of Botanische Zeitung. See letter from A. W. Bennett, 21 September 1874 and n. 1.
3
Bennett had included observations of Drosera (the sundew) in his letter of 21 September 1874; this letter was written on two sheets that may have been sent separately.
4
Bennett reported on the movement of glands in Drosera in Gardener’s Chronicle, 26 November 1874, p. 402.
5
Andrew Murray argued that Drosera and Dionaea (Venus fly trap) were not truly carnivorous, for although they could dissolve animal matter, they seemed to lack an ‘apparatus for digestion’ (Gardeners’ Chronicle, 19 September 1874, pp. 354–5).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9660,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9660