392 BOTANY [Chap. XI 



Letter 714 period, before the corolla is fully expanded. I shall examine 

 this point with L. odoratus. I have read H. Midler's book, 

 and it seems to me very good. Your criticism had not 

 occurred to me, but is, I think, just — viz. that it is much 

 more important to know what insects habitually visit any 

 flower than the various kinds which occasionally visit it. 

 Have you seen A. Kerner's book ScJiutzmittel des Pollens, 

 1873, Innsbruck. 1 It is very interesting, but he does not 

 seem to know anything about the work of other authors. 



I have Bentham's paper in my house, but have not yet 

 had time to read a word of it. He is a man with very sound 

 judgment, and fully admits the principle of evolution. 



I have lately had occasion to look over again your dis- 

 cussion on anemophilous plants, 2 and I have again felt much 

 admiration at your work. 



In the beginning of August, 1873, Darwin paid the first of several 

 visits to Lord Farrer's house at Abinger. When sending copies of 

 Darwin's letters for the Life and Letters, Lord Farrer was good enough 

 to add explanatory notes and recollections, from which we quote the 

 following sketch. 



" Above my house are some low hills, standing up in the 

 valley, below the chalk range on the one hand and the more 

 distant range of Leith Hill on the other, with pretty views of 

 the valley towards Dorking in one direction and Guildford 

 in the other. They are composed of the less fertile Green- 

 sand strata, and are covered with fern, broom, gorse, and 

 heath. Here it was a particular pleasure of his to wander, 

 and his tall figure, with his broad-brimmed Panama hat and 

 long stick like an alpenstock, sauntering solitary and slow 

 over our favourite walks, is one of the pleasantest of the 

 many pleasant associations I have with the place." 



To T. H. Farrer (Lord Farrer). 

 Letter 715 v 7 



The following note by Lord Farrer explains the main point of the 



letter, which, however, refers to the " bloom " problem as well as to 



Coronilla : — 



" I thought I had found out what puzzled us in Coronilla varia : in 



most of the Papilionaceae, when the tenth stamen is free, there is nectar 



1 Afterwards translated by Dr. Ogle as Flowers and their Unbidden 

 Guests, with a prefatory letter by Charles Darwin, 1878. 

 3 Atti del la Soc. Italiana di Scienze Nat., Vol. XI II, 



