1843— i88a] GALAPAGOS PLANTS 4OI 



like bush in T. del Fuego, but can tell you no more about Letter 313 

 it, as I presume that you have seen Capt. King's collection 

 in Mr. Brown's possession, provisionally for the British 

 Museum. I fear you will be much disappointed in my few 

 plants : an ignorant person cannot collect ; and I, moreover, 

 lost one, the first, and best set of the Alpine plants. On 

 the other hand, I hope the Galapagos plants l (judging from 

 Henslow's remarks) will turn out more interesting than you 

 expect. Pray be careful to observe, if I ever mark the 

 individual islands of the Galapagos Islands, for the reasons 

 you will see in my Journal. Menzies and Gumming were 

 there, and there are some plants (I think Mr. Bentham told 

 me) at the Horticultural Society and at the British Museum. 

 I believe I collected no plants at Ascension, thinking it 

 well known. 



Is not the similarity of plants of Kerguelen Land and 

 southern S. America very curious ? Is there any instance in 

 the northern hemisphere of plants being similar at such great 

 distances ? With thanks for your letter and for your having 

 undertaken my small collection of plants, 

 Believe me, my dear Sir, 



Yours very truly, 



C. Darwin. 



Do remember my prayer, and write as well for botanical 

 ignoramuses as for great botanists. There is a paper of 

 Carmichael 2 on Tristan d'Acunha, which from the want of 

 general remarks and comparison, I found [torn out] to me 

 a dead letter. — I presume you will include this island in your 

 views of the southern hemisphere. 



PS. — I have been looking at my poor miserable attempt 

 at botanical-landscapc-remarks, and I see that I state that 

 the species of beech which is least common in T. del Fuego 

 is common in the forest of Central Chiloe. But I will enclose 

 for you this one page of my rough journal. 



1 See Life and Letters, II., pp. 20, 21, for Sir J. D. Hooker's notes on 

 the beginning of his friendship with Mr. Darwin, and for the latter's 

 letter on the Galapagos plants being placed in Hooker's hands. 



2 " Some Account of the Island of Tristan da Cunha and of its Natural 

 Productions."— Linn. Soc. Trans., XII., 1818, p. 483. 



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