Frith Hill, Godalming
Sept[embe]r 27th 1888
Dear Mr. Baker1
Will you be so good as to answer a question which I think you can do without any trouble, as you worked up the entire flora of Mauritius & the adjacent islands. I want to know if among the endemic trees or shrubs there are any spring species, — and if there are, whether they are much less proportionately or equal to the spring plants of continental floras. It will afford a good test of the opposing theories of mammalian [2] protection, — & diminished nutrition Mr. Hemsley2 has given me some facts from other islands but Mauritius seems to afford an excellent test case.
Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]
J. G. Baker Esq.
Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP1790.1676)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP1790,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1790