WCP2844

Letter (WCP2844.2734)

[1]1

THE CAMP,

SUNNINGDALE.

Fe[bruar]y 11th 1905

My dear Wallace

I have not changed my opinion & you may quote the two passages indicated in my letter: nor have I seen any controversion [sic] of the view & questions of late years; but to tell you the truth I have not of late kept up my botanical reading, except for India.

Dyer2 you know has adopted our view, in a paper read, if I remember aright, to the Geographical Society,3 some years ago.

Of course, there has been sporadic migration from South to North, here [2] these, as of the Malayan types all along the base of the Himalaya — but that is due to the disturbing influence of the Himalaya, offering the facilities of it’s [sic] hot humid lower ranges for the invasion of tropical types.

Have you seen a paper by a Mr Cockayne4 in Trans[actions]. [of the] N[ew] Zeal[an]d. Institute Vol[ume]. XXXVI? on the flora of the Southern Island of New Zealand.5 It is full of matter interesting to us, especially the accounts of the Rata forest in [the] Auckland Islands,6 which seem to indicate an ancient land connection with New Zealand & is by far the most cogent botanical evidence known to me of the replacement of land [3]7 by deep ocean. I can lend you the paper (See p[age]. 312)[.]

I am glad to hear that you enjoy your years & can think & work. I keep up a little botany by working up difficult genera of the Kew Herbarium.8 I am now at Impatiens9 & have been for 4 years now. The local aggregation of the species: India is quite unintelligable [sic]; no doubt all due to Insect agency.

I keep well except for transient attacks of Eczema that keep my legs & sometimes arms bandaged.

Ever sincerely Y[ou]rs | J D Hooker.10 [signature]

This page is numbered 165 in pencil in the top RH corner.
Thiselton-Dyer, William Turner (1843-1928). Leading British botanist and Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 1885-1905.
The Royal Geographical Society is a learned society and professional body for geography and geographers, founded in 1830.
Cockayne, Leonard (1855-1934). British-born botanist, who travelled to Australia in 1877 and shortly moved on to New Zealand where he became established. He is regarded as New Zealand's greatest botanist and a founder of modern science in New Zealand.
Cockayne, L. (1903). A Botanical Excursion during Midwinter to the Southern, Islands of New Zealand. (Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 4th November, 1903.) Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute Vol. XXXVI p. 226-333. (Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand was a scientific journal and magazine published by the Royal Society of New Zealand. Before 1933 the society was called the New Zealand Institute, and the journal's name was Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute).
The rata belong to the myrtle family of trees Myrtaceae. The Southern rata (Metrosideros umbellata) is distributed from high Northland and Coromandel outcrops, to sub-antarctic Auckland Islands where it forms the country's southernmost forests. The most dense display of southern rata occurs along the South Island's West Coast.
This page is numbered 166 in pencil in the top RH corner.
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, founded in 1840, contains the world’s largest collection of living plants.
A genus of about 850 to 1,000 species of flowering plants, widely distributed throughout the Northern hemisphere and the tropics. Together with the genus Hydrocera, Impatiens make up the family Balsaminaceae.
Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1817-1911). British botanist and explorer, founder of geographical botany. He succeeded his father William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on his death and held the post for 20 years.

Please cite as “WCP2844,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP2844