Ɛpsilon

From J. D. Hooker   16 April 1875

Kew

April 16/75.

Dear Darwin

I quite approve the draft. in its essential features.1 I had a talk with Huxley2 about it last night—who is very strongly in favour of a bill.

Yes I know the pitchers of one species of Dischidia a native of Malacca—see Linn. Trans. xx. t. 17. 18. in which the roots dip into the hollow of the leaf! & it would be very curious if it digested leaves.3 I once had the plant at Kew, but it arrived in a dying state. I have just appointed a Gardener to the Straits settlements4 & shall hope to get the plant. The other Dischidias have nothing of the kind!

I should fancy that the spathe of Alocasia is to hold insects for fertilization.5

sesquipedalis = a foot & a half & applies to the length of the pitcher.

Ever yr aff | J D Hooker

1
CD had sent Hooker a copy of the draft vivisection bill (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 April [1875]).
3
See letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 April [1875] and n. 5. Hooker refers to Dischidia rafflesiana (the ant plant; now D. major) and the plates that accompanied Griffith 1846 and Griffith 1847. Mallaca is a Malaysian state south of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Straits of Malacca.
4
The gardener was Henry James Murton.
5
Alocasia odora is the night-scented lily. See letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 April [1875].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9935,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9935