458 FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [1877. 



[Fritz Miiller has observed that the flowers of Hedychium 

 are so arranged that the pollen is removed by the wings of 

 hovering butterflies. My father's prediction of this observa- 

 tion is given in the following letter :] 



C. Darwin to H. Miiller. 



Down, August 7, 1876. 



.... I was much interested by your brother's article on 

 Hedychium ; about two years ago I was so convinced that 

 the flowers were fertilized by the tips of the wings of large 

 moths, that I wrote to India to ask a man to observe the flow- 

 ers and catch the moths at work, and he sent me 20 to 30 

 Sphinx-moths, but so badly packed that they all arrived in 

 fragments ; and I could make out nothing. . . . 



Yours sincerely, 



Ch. Darwin. 



[The following extract from a letter (Feb. 25, 1864), to 

 Dr. Gray refers to another prediction fulfilled : — 



'^ I have of course seen no one, and except good dear 

 Hooker, I hear from no one. He, like a good and true friend, 

 though so overworked, often writes to me. 



*' I have had one letter which has interested me greatly, 

 with a paper, which will appear in the Linnean Journal, by 

 Dr. Crtiger of Trinidad, which shows that I am all right about 

 Catasetum, even to the spot where the pollinia adhere to the 

 bees, which visit the flower, as I said, to gnaw the labellum. 

 Crilger's account of Coryanthes and the use of the bucket- 

 like labellum full of water beats everything : I suspect that 

 the bees being well wetted flattens their hairs, and allows the 

 viscid disc to adhere."] 



C. Darwin to the Marquis de Sapor ta. 



Down, December 24, 1877. 



My dear Sir, — I thank you sincerely for your long and 

 most interesting letter, which I should have answered sooner 



